Trusted infrastructure support systems, methods and techniques for secure electronic commerce transaction and rights management

ABSTRACT

The present inventions provide an integrated, modular array of administrative and support services for electronic commerce and electronic rights and transaction management. These administrative and support services supply a secure foundation for conducting financial management, rights management, certificate authority, rules clearing, usage clearing, secure directory services, and other transaction related capabilities functioning over a vast electronic network such as the Internet and/or over organization internal Intranets. 
     These administrative and support services can be adapted to the specific needs of electronic commerce value chains. Electronic commerce participants can use these administrative and support services to support their interests, and can shape and reuse these services in response to competitive business realities. 
     A Distributed Commerce Utility having a secure, programmable, distributed architecture provides administrative and support services. The Distributed Commerce Utility makes optimally efficient use of commerce administration resources, and can scale in a practical fashion to accommodate the demands of electronic commerce growth. 
     The Distributed Commerce Utility may comprise a number of Commerce Utility Systems. These Commerce Utility Systems provide a web of infrastructure support available to, and reusable by, the entire electronic community and/or many or all of its participants. 
     Different support functions can be collected together in hierarchical and/or in networked relationships to suit various business models and/or other objectives. Modular support functions can combined in different arrays to form different Commerce Utility Systems for different design implementations and purposes. These Commerce Utility Systems can be distributed across a large number of electronic appliances with varying degrees of distribution.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/426,764, filed Oct. 26, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,568), which isa continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/398,665, filed Sep. 17,1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,133,846 which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 08/699,712, filed Aug. 12, 1996 (now abandoned),which is a continuation-in-part of commonly assigned U.S. applicationSer. No. 08/388,107, filed Feb. 13, 1995 (now abandoned), all of whichare hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTIONS

These inventions generally relate to optimally bringing the efficienciesof modern computing and networking to the administration and support ofelectronic interactions and consequences and further relate to a securearchitecture enabling distributed, trusted administration for electroniccommerce.

These inventions relate, in more detail, to a “Distributed CommerceUtility”—a foundation for the administration and support of electroniccommerce and other electronic interaction and relationship environments.

In still more detail, these inventions generally relate to:

-   -   efficient administration and support of electronic commerce and        communications;    -   methods and technologies for electronic rights administration        and support services;    -   techniques and arrangements for distributing administration and        support services such as secure electronic transaction        management/administration, electronic process control and        automation, and clearing functions across and/or within an        electronic network and/or virtual distribution environment;        and/or    -   clearing, control, automation, and other administrative,        infrastructure and support capabilities that collectively enable        and support the operation of an efficient, secure, peer-to-peer        collection of commerce participants within the human digital        community.

BACKGROUND

Efficient, effective societies require capabilities enabling theirinhabitants to control the nature and consequences of theirparticipation in interactions. Every community needs certain basicservices, facilities and installations:

-   -   the post office delivers our mail,    -   the schools teach our children,    -   the highway department keeps our roads passable and in good        repair,    -   the fire department puts out fires,    -   the power company delivers electrical power to our homes,    -   the telephone company connects people and electronic devices        near and far and provides directory services when you don't know        the right number,    -   banks keep our money safe,    -   cable TV and radio stations deliver news and entertainment        programming to our homes.    -   police keep order,    -   the sanitation department collects refuse, and    -   social services support societal policies for the needy.

These and other important “behind the scenes” administrative and supportservices provide an underlying base or foundation that makes theconveniences and necessities of modern life as we know it possible andefficient, and allow the wheels of commerce to spin smoothly.

Suppose you want to buy bread at the local bakery. The baker doesn'thave to do everything involved in making the bread because he can relyon support and administration services the community provides. Forexample:

-   -   The baker doesn't need to grow or mill grain to make flour for        the bread. Instead, he can purchase flour from a supplier that        delivers it by truck.    -   Similarly, the baker doesn't need to grow or produce fuel to        keep its ovens hot; that fuel can be delivered in pipes or tanks        by people who specialize in producing and supplying fuel.    -   You can also have confidence in the cleanliness of the local        bakery because it displays an inspection notice certifying that        it has been inspected by the local health department.

Support and administrative services are also very important to ensurethat people are compensated for their efforts. For example:

-   -   You and the bakery can safely trust the government to stand        behind the currency you take out of your wallet or purse to pay        for the bread.    -   If you pay by check, the banking system debits the amount of        your check from your bank account overnight and gives the bakery        the money.    -   If you and the bakery use different banks, your check may be        handled by an automated “clearinghouse” system that allows        different banks to exchange checks and settle        accounts—efficiently transferring money between the banks and        returning checks drawn on accounts that don't have enough money        in them.    -   If the bakery accepts credit cards as payment, the flexibility        of payment methods accepted in exchange for the bakery products        is increased and provides increased convenience and purchasing        power to its customers.

Such support and administrative services provide great economies interms of scale and scope—making our economy much more efficient. Forexample, these important support and administrative services allow thebaker to concentrate on what he knows how to do best—make and bakebread. It is much more efficient for a bakery and its experienced bakersto make many loaves of bread in its large commercial ovens than it isfor individual families to each bake individual loaves in their own homeovens, or for the growers of grain to also bake the bread and pump thefuel needed for baking and accept barter, for example, chickens inexchange for the bread. As a result, you and the bakery can completeyour purchasing transaction with a credit card because both you and thebakery have confidence that such a payment system works well and can betrusted to “automatically” function as a highly efficient and convenientbasis for non-cash transactions.

The Electronic Community Needs Administrative and Support Services

There is now a worldwide electronic community. Electronic communityparticipants need the ability to shape, control, and, in an electronicworld, automate, their interactions. They badly need reliable, secure,trusted support and administrative services.

More and more of the world's commerce is being carried onelectronically. The Internet—a massive electronic network of networksthat connects millions of computers worldwide—is being used increasinglyas the vehicle for commerce transactions. Fueled largely by easy-to-useinterfaces (e.g., those allowing customers to “point and click” on itemsto initiate purchase and then to complete a simple form to convey creditcard information), the Internet is rapidly becoming a focal point forconsumer and business to business purchases. It is also becoming asignificant “channel” for the sale and distribution of all kinds ofelectronic properties and services, including information, software,games, and entertainment.

At the same time, large companies use both private and public datanetworks to connect with their suppliers and customers. Driven byapparently inexorable declines in the cost of both computing power andnetwork capacity, electronic commerce will increase in importance as theworld becomes more and more computerized. This new electroniccommunity—with its widespread electronic commerce—is generating greatnew demands for electronic administrative, support and “clearing”services.

The electronic community badly needs a foundation that will support bothcommercial and personal electronic interactions and relationships.Electronic commerce on any significant scale will require a dependable,efficient, scaleable, and secure network of third party support andadministrative service providers and mechanisms to facilitate importantparts of the transaction process. For example:

-   -   People who provide value to the electronic community require        seamless and efficient mechanisms allowing them to be        compensated for the value they provide.    -   Providers who sell goods or services to the electronic community        need reliable, efficient electronic payment mechanisms to        service themselves and other value chain participants.    -   Purchasers in the electronic marketplace, while often unaware of        the behind-the-scenes intricacies of payment transaction        activity, nonetheless require easy to use, efficient and        flexible interfaces to payment mechanisms and financial        obligation fulfillment systems.    -   Rights holders in all types of electronic “content” (for        example, analog or digital information representing text,        graphics, movies, animation, images, video, digital linear        motion pictures, sound and sound recordings, still images,        software computer programs, data), and to many types of        electronic control processes, require secure, flexible and        widely interoperable mechanisms for managing their rights and        administering their business models, including collecting, when        desired, payments and relevant usage information for various        uses of their content.    -   All parties require infrastructure support services that remain        dependable, trusted, and secure even as the volume of commerce        transactions increases substantially.

An important cornerstone of successful electronic transaction managementand commerce is therefore the development and operation of a set ofadministrative and support services that support these objectives andfacilitate the emergence of more diverse, flexible, scaleable, andefficient business models for electronic commerce generally.

The Ginter Patent Specification Describes a Comprehensive Solution

The above-referenced Ginter, et al. patent specification describestechnology providing unique, powerful capabilities instrumental to thedevelopment of secure, distributed transaction-based electronic commerceand rights management. This technology can enable many important, newbusiness models and business practices on the part of electroniccommerce participants while also supporting existing business models andpractices.

The Ginter et al. specification describes comprehensive overall systemsand wide arrays of methods, techniques, structures and arrangements thatenable secure, efficient distributed electronic commerce and rightsmanagement on the Internet (and Intranets), within companies large andsmall, in the living room, and in the home office. Such techniques,systems and arrangements bring about an unparalleled degree of security,reliability, efficiency and flexibility to electronic commerce andelectronic rights management.

The Ginter, et al. patent specification also describes an “InformationUtility”—a network of support and administrative services, facilitiesand installations that grease the wheels of electronic commerce andsupport electronic transactions in this new electronic community. Forexample, Ginter, et al. details a wide array of support andadministrative service providers for interfacing with and supporting asecure “Virtual Distribution Environment.” These support andadministrative service providers include:

-   -   transaction processors,    -   usage analysts,    -   report receivers,    -   report creators,    -   system administrators,    -   permissioning agents,    -   certification authority    -   content and message repositories,    -   financial clearinghouses,    -   consumer/author registration systems,    -   template libraries,    -   control structure libraries,    -   disbursement systems,    -   electronic finds transfer, credit card, paper billing systems,        and    -   receipt, response, transaction and analysis audit systems.        The Present Inventions Build on and Extend the Solutions        Described in the Ginter Patent Specification

The present inventions build on the fundamental concepts described inthe Ginter, et al. patent specification while extending those inventionsto provide further increases in efficiency, flexibility and capability.They provide an overlay of distributed electronic administrative andsupport services (the “Distributed Commerce Utility”). They can, intheir preferred embodiments, use and take advantage of the “VirtualDistribution Environment” (and other capabilities described in theGinter et al patent specification and may be layered on top of andexpand on those capabilities.

Brief Summary of Some of the Features and Advantages of the PresentInventions

The present inventions provide an integrated, modular array ofadministrative and support services for electronic commerce andelectronic rights and transaction management. These administrative andsupport services supply a secure foundation for conducting financialmanagement, rights management, certificate authority, rules clearing,usage clearing, secure directory services, and other transaction relatedcapabilities functioning over a vast electronic network such as theInternet and/or over organization internal Intranets, or even in-homenetworks of electronic appliances.

These administrative and support services can be adapted to the specificneeds of electronic commerce value chains. Electronic commerceparticipants can use these administrative and support services tosupport their interests, and can shape and reuse these services inresponse to competitive business realities.

The present inventions provide a “Distributed Commerce Utility” having asecure, programmable, distributed architecture that providesadministrative and support services. The Distributed Commerce Utilitycan make optimally efficient use of commerce administration resources,and can scale in a practical fashion to accommodate the demands ofelectronic commerce growth.

The Distributed Commerce Utility may comprise a number of CommerceUtility Systems. These Commerce Utility Systems provide a web ofinfrastructure support available to, and reusable by, the entireelectronic community and/or many or all of its participants.

Different support functions can be collected together in hierarchicaland/or in networked relationships to suit various business models and/orother objectives. Modular support functions can be combined in differentarrays to form different Commerce Utility Systems for different designimplementations and purposes. These Commerce Utility Systems can bedistributed across a large number of electronic appliances with varyingdegrees of distribution.

The comprehensive “Distributed Commerce Utility” provided by the presentinvention:

-   -   Enables practical and efficient electronic commerce and rights        management.    -   Provides services that securely administer and support        electronic interactions and consequences.    -   Provides infrastructure for electronic commerce and other forms        of human electronic interaction and relationships.    -   Optimally applies the efficiencies of modern distributed        computing and networking.    -   Provides electronic automation and distributed processing.    -   Supports electronic commerce and communications infrastructure        that is modular, programmable, distributed and optimally        computerized.    -   Provides a comprehensive array of capabilities that can be        combined to support services that perform various administrative        and support roles.    -   Maximizes benefits from electronic automation and distributed        processing to produce optimal allocation and use of resources        across a system or network.    -   Is efficient, flexible, cost effective, configurable, reusable,        modifiable, and generalizable.    -   Can economically reflect users' business and privacy        requirements.    -   Can optimally distribute processes—allowing commerce models to        be flexible, scaled to demand and to match user requirements.    -   Can efficiently handle a full range of activities and service        volumes.    -   Can be fashioned and operated for each business model, as a        mixture of distributed and centralized processes.    -   Provides a blend of local, centralized and networked        capabilities that can be uniquely shaped and reshaped to meet        changing conditions.    -   Supports general purpose resources and is reusable for many        different models; in place infrastructure can be reused by        different value chains having different requirements.    -   Can support any number of commerce and communications models.    -   Efficiently applies local, centralized and networked resources        to match each value chain's requirements.    -   Sharing of common resources spreads out costs and maximizes        efficiency.    -   Supports mixed, distributed, peer-to-peer and centralized        networked capabilities.    -   Can operate locally, remotely and/or centrally.    -   Can operate synchronously, asynchronously, or support both modes        of operation.    -   Adapts easily and flexibly to the rapidly changing sea of        commercial opportunities, relationships and constraints of        “Cyberspace.”

In sum, the Distributed Commerce Utility provides comprehensive,integrated administrative and support services for secure electroniccommerce and other forms of electronic interaction.

Some of the advantageous features and characteristics of the DistributedCommerce Utility provided by the present inventions include thefollowing:

-   -   The Distributed Commerce Utility supports programmable,        distributed, and optimally computerized commerce and        communications administration. It uniquely provides an array of        services that perform various administrative and support        roles—providing the administrative overlay necessary for        realizing maximum benefits from electronic automation,        distributed processing, and system (e.g., network) wide optimal        resource utilization.    -   The Distributed Commerce Utility is particularly adapted to        provide the administrative foundation for the Internet,        organization Intranets, and similar environments involving        distributed digital information creators, users, and service        systems.    -   The Distributed Commerce Utility architecture provides an        efficient, cost effective, flexible, configurable, reusable, and        generalizable foundation for electronic commerce and        communications administrative and support services. Providing        these capabilities is critical to establishing a foundation for        human electronic interaction that supports optimal electronic        relationship models—both commercial and personal.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility architecture provides an            electronic commerce and communication support services            foundation that can be, for any specific model, fashioned            and operated as a mixture of distributed and centralized            processes.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility supported models can be            uniquely shaped and reshaped to progressively reflect            optimal blends of local, centralized, and networked            Distributed Commerce Utility administrative capabilities.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility's innovative electronic            administrative capabilities support mixed, distributed,            peer-to-peer and centralized networked capabilities.            Collections of these capabilities, can each operate in any            mixture of local, remote, and central asynchronous and/or            synchronous networked combinations that together comprise            the most commercially implementable, economic, and            marketable—that is commercially desirable—model for a given            purpose at any given time.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility architecture is general            purpose. It can support any number of commerce and            communication models which share (e.g., reuse), as            appropriate, local, centralized, and networked resources. As            a result, the Distributed Commerce Utility optimally enables            practical and efficient electronic commerce and rights            management models that can amortize resource maintenance            costs through common usage of the same, or overlapping,            resource base.        -   One or more Distributed Commerce Utility commerce models may            share some or all of the resources of one or more other            models. One or more models may shift the mix and nature of            their distributed administrative operations to adapt to the            demands of Cyberspace—a rapidly changing sea of commercial            opportunities, relationships, and constraints.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility supports the processes of            traditional commerce by allowing their translation into            electronic commerce processes. The Distributed Commerce            Utility further enhances these processes through its use of            distributed processing, rights related “clearinghouse”            administration, security designs, object oriented design,            administrative smart agents, negotiation and electronic            decision making techniques, and/or electronic automation            control techniques as may be necessary for efficient,            commercially practical electronic commerce models.        -   Certain Distributed Commerce Utility operations (financial            payment, usage auditing, etc.) can be performed within            participant user electronic appliance secure execution            spaces such as, for example, “protected processing            environments” disclosed in Ginter et al.        -   Distributed clearinghouse operations may be performed            through “virtually networked and/or hierarchical” arrays of            Commerce Utility System sites employing a general purpose,            interoperable (e.g., peer-to-peer) virtual distribution            environment foundation.        -   For a given application or model, differing arrays of            Distributed Commerce Utility Services may be authorized to            provide differing kinds of administrative and/or support            functions.        -   Any or all of the roles supported by the Distributed            Commerce Utility may be performed by, and/or used by, the            same organization, consortium or other grouping of            organizations, or other electronic community participants,            such as individual user web sites.        -   One or more parts of the Distributed Commerce Utility may be            comprised of a network of distributed protected processing            environments performing one or more roles having            hierarchical and/or peer-to-peer relationships.        -   Multiple Distributed Commerce Utility protected processing            environments may contribute to the overall role of a            service, foundation component, and/or clearinghouse.        -   Distributed protected processing environments contributing            to a Distributed Commerce Utility role may be as            distributed, in a preferred embodiment, as the number of VDE            participant protected processing environments and/or may            have specific hierarchical, networked and/or centralized            administration and support relationship(s) to such            participant protected processing environments.        -   In a given model, certain one or more Distributed Commerce            Utility roles may be fully distributed, certain other one or            more roles may be more (e.g., hierarchically), and/or fully,            centralized, and certain other roles can be partially            distributed and partially centralized.        -   The fundamental peer-to-peer control capabilities provided            by the Distributed Commerce Utility allows for any            composition of distributed roles that collectively provide            important, practical, scaleable, and/or essential commerce            administration, security, and automation services.        -   Combinations of Distributed Commerce Utility features,            arrangements, and/or capabilities can be employed in            programmable mixtures of distributed and centralized            arrangements, with various of such features, arrangements,            and capabilities operating in end-user protected processing            environments and/or “middle” foundation protected processing            environments (local, regional, class specific, etc.) and/or            centralized service protected processing environments.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility is especially useful to            support the Internet and other electronic environments that            have distributed information creators, users and service            providers. By helping people to move their activities into            the electronic world, it plays a fundamentally important            role in migration of these non-electronic human activities            onto the Internet, Intranets, and other electronic            interaction networks. Such network users require the            Distributed Commerce Utility foundation and support services            in order to economically realize their business and privacy            requirements. This secure distributed processing foundation            is needed to optimally support the capacity of electronic            commerce models to meaningfully scale to demand and            efficiently handle the full range of desired activities and            service volume.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility technologies provided by            the present inventions provide a set of secure, distributed            support and administrative services for electronic commerce,            rights management, and distributed computing and process            control.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility support services including            highly secure and sophisticated technical and/or contractual            services, may be invoked by electronic commerce and value            chain participants in a seamless, convenient, and relatively            transparent way that shields users against the underlying            complexity of their operation.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility can ensure appropriately            high levels of physical, computer, network, process and            policy-based security and automation while providing            enhanced, efficient, reliable, easy to use, convenient            functionality that is necessary (or at least highly            desirable) for orderly and efficiently supporting of the            needs of the electronic community.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility, in its preferred            embodiments, support the creation of competitive commercial            models operating in the context of an “open” VDE based            digital marketplace.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility can provide convenience and            operating efficiencies to their value chain participants.            For example, they may offer a complete, integrated set of            important “clearing” function capabilities that are            programmable and can be shaped to optimally support            multi-party business relationship through one seamless,            “distributed” interface (e.g., a distributed application).            Clearing and/or support functions and/or sub-functions can,            as desirable, be made available individually and/or            separately so as to serve business, confidentiality,            efficiency, or other objectives.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility can make it easy for            providers, merchants, distributors, repurposers, consumers,            and other value chain participants to attach to, invoke, and            work with Distributed Commerce Utility services. Hookups can            be easy, seamless and comprehensive (one hook-up may provide            a wide variety of complementary services).        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility can further enhance            convenience and efficiency by providing or otherwise            supporting consumer brand images for clearing services            offered by participant organizations, but utilizing shared            infrastructure and processes.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility can realize important            efficiencies resulting from scale and specialization by            participant organizations by supporting “virtual” models            that electronically and seamlessly employ the special            services and capabilities of multiple parties.        -   The Distributed Commerce Utility makes it possible for            consumers to conveniently receive a benefit such as a            service or product, where such service or product results            from the invocation of a “fabric” of various support            services—each of which service may be comprised of a            distributed fabric of more specialized services and/or            participating constituent service providers (the overall            fabric is apparent to the value chain participant, the            underlying complexity is (or can be) largely or entirely            hidden).        -   Distributed Commerce Utility services and capabilities in            their preferred embodiments can employ and be combined in            any reasonable manner with any one or more Virtual            Distribution Environment capabilities described in Ginter,            et. al., including for example:            -   A. VDE chain of handling and control,            -   B. secure, trusted internodal communication and                interoperability,            -   C. secure database,            -   D. authentication,            -   E. cryptographic,            -   F. fingerprinting,            -   G. other VDE security techniques,            -   H. rights operating system,            -   I. object design and secure container techniques,            -   J. container control structures,            -   K. rights and process control language,            -   L. electronic negotiation,            -   M. secure hardware, and            -   N. smart agent (smart object) techniques (for example,                smart agents employed as process control, multi-party,                and/or other administrative agent capabilities                supporting distributed node administrative integration).                Commerce Utility Systems can be Distributed and Combined

The support and administrative service functions provided by theDistributed Commerce Utility can be combined in various ways and/ordistributed through an electronic community, system or network. Thepreferred embodiment uses the protected processing environment basedVirtual Distribution Environment described in Ginter et al. tofacilitate such combinations and distributedness. Since all such VirtualDistribution Environment protected processing environments are at leastto some degree trusted, every protected processing environment can be aclearinghouse or a part of a clearinghouse. Commerce models acceptableto the interest and desires of VDE commerce node users, can supportDistributed Commerce Utility services that are pushed all the way toend-user electronic appliances employing, for example, other VDEprotected processing environments, secure communication techniques andother VDE capabilities (as discussed elsewhere VDE capabilities can bedirectly integrated with the present inventions). Such appliances, alongwith more centralized value chain nodes can together form combinationsthat function as virtual clearing protected processing environments. Inthe end, cyberspace will be populated, in part, by big, “virtual”computers where access to resources is based upon “availability” andrights.

The Distributed Commerce Utility is a modular, programmable andgeneralizable context that it can support such virtual computers. TheDistributed Commerce Utility is a unique architectural foundation forthe design of electronic commerce value chain models and virtualcomputers. The programmable nature of a particular implementation cansupport differing actual (logical and/or physical), and/or degrees of,distribution for the same and/or similar services For example:

-   -   Centralized Commerce Utility Systems and services may be used to        provide certain support service functions, or collections of        functions, efficiently from a centralized location.    -   Other Commerce Utility Systems might be provided in a partially        or wholly distributed manner.    -   Some support and administrative service functions might be        distributed in and/or throughout existing or new communications        infrastructure or other electronic network support components.    -   Other support services might operate within secure execution        spaces (e.g., protected processing environments) on any or all        user electronic appliances, using peer-to-peer communications        and interactions, for example, to provide a secure web of        support service fabric.    -   Other support services might operate both in the network support        infrastructure and at user electronic appliances.

Such distributed support services may complement (and/or eliminate theneed for) more centralized support service installations. Differentcombinations of the same and/or differing, non-distributed anddifferently distributed services may be provided to support differentactivities. Moreover, the nature and distribution of services for oneoverall model may differ from one implementation to another. Suchdiffering model implementations can, if desired, share both the sameCommerce Utility Systems and Services and/or any particular and/or anycombination of Distributed Commerce Utility administrative and/orsupport functions.

Further, a particular Commerce Utility Systems and Serviceinfrastructure may be used by differing value chains (e.g., businessmodel or relationship set) in differing manners. For example, certainvalue chains may elect to keep certain support service functions morecentralized for efficiency, security, control or other reasons, othersmay elect more and/or differently distributed models.

Provided that, for example, payment methods and rightsholders and/orother value chain participants concur, any one or more of theDistributed Commerce Utility secure infrastructure support services maydistribute and/or delegate a portion or all of their functions andauthority to any arbitrary collection or set of end-user and/or othervalue chain electronic appliances. Distributing and delegating theseservices and functions has various advantages including, for example,enabling flexible and efficient creation of temporary, ad hoc webs ofsecure electronic commerce in which any, a number, or all appliance(s)in the collection or set may participate as at least a partial (if notfull) peer of other appliances in the same commerce web fabric.

The present invention provides the following non-exhaustive list ofadditional features relating to distributing administrative and supportfunctions:

-   -   Any mixture of any administrative and/or support functions may        be integrated with any other mixture of administrative and/or        support functions.    -   Any set or subset of Commerce Utility System functions can be        combined in an integrated design with any other mixture of        Commerce Utility system functions. Such mixtures can be        distributed to any desired degree and any one or more portions        of the mixture may be more or less distributed than any other        one or more portion. This allows a value chain to employ optimum        desired and/or practical designs. Any mixture, including any        degrees of distribution, of rights clearing, financial clearing,        usage aggregation, usage reporting and/or other clearing and/or        other Distributed Commerce Utility functions, can be provided.        Such Distributed Commerce Utility functions and/or        administrative and/or support services can be combined with any        other desired Distributed Commerce Utility functions and/or        administrative and/or support services.    -   Any one or more such administrative and/or support services        and/or functions can operate as a Commerce Utility System and        support a web of Commerce Utility System nodes, each of which        supports at least a portion of such Commerce Utility        administrative service activities. Each Commerce Utility System        may be capable of granting authority and/or providing services        to and/or otherwise securely interoperating with other Commerce        Utility Systems and/or nodes.    -   Each Commerce Utility System (or combination of Commerce Utility        Systems) may be capable of participating as a “virtual        clearinghouse” comprised of plural Commerce Utility Systems. In        the preferred embodiment, these “virtual clearinghouses” may,        when in accordance with VDE rules and controls, interoperate—in        a fashion prescribed by such rules and controls—with other        Commerce Utility Systems and/or other virtual clearinghouses        participating in the same web. Such “virtual clearinghouses” may        receive authority from secure chain of handling and control        embodied in electronic control sets, and may participate in        electronic commerce process automation resulting from such chain        of handling and control and other VDE capabilities.

This ability to distribute, and, if desired to subsequently adapt(modify), any support service functions to any desired degree across asystem or network provides great power, flexibility and increases inefficiency. For example, distributing aspects of support services suchas clearing functions will help avoid the “bottlenecks” that acentralized clearing facility would create if it had insufficientcapacity to handle the processing loads. Taking advantage of thedistributed processing power of many value chain participant appliancesalso has great benefits in terms of improved effectiveness and systemresponse time, much lower overhead of operation, greater faulttolerance, versatility in application implementations, and, in generalmuch greater value chain appeal resulting from the present inventionsadaptability to each value chain participant's needs and requirements.

Some Examples of Administrative and/or Support Services Provided by theDistributed Commerce Utility

The Distributed Commerce Utility may be organized into a number ofdifferent, special and/or general purpose “Commerce Utility Systems.”The Commerce Utility Systems can be centralized, distributed, orpartially distributed and partially centralized to provideadministrative, security, and other services that practical commercemanagement layer requires. Certain Commerce Utility Systems compriseDistributed Commerce Utility implementations of certain well knownadministrative service functions, such as financial clearinghouse andcertifying authorities. Other Commerce Utility Systems involve new formsof services and new combinations and designs for well known serviceactivities. A Commerce Utility System is any instantiation of theDistributed Commerce Utility supporting a specific electronic commercemodel, and a Commerce Utility System may itself be comprised ofconstituent Commerce Utility Systems. Commerce Utility Systems mayinclude any or all of the following, in any combination of capabilitiesand distribution designs, for example:

-   -   financial clearinghouses,    -   usage clearinghouses,    -   rights and permissions clearinghouses,    -   certifying authorities,    -   secure directory services,    -   secure transaction authorities,    -   multi-purpose, general purpose and/or combination Commerce        Utility Systems including any combination of the capabilities of        the systems listed immediately above, and    -   other Commerce Utility Systems.

These Commerce Utility Systems are far-reaching in their utility andapplicability. For example they may provide administrative support forany or all of the following:

-   -   trusted electronic event management,    -   networked, automated, distributed, secure process administration        and control,    -   Virtual Distribution Environment chain-of-handling and control,        and    -   rights administration and usage (e.g., event) management (e.g.,        auditing, control, rights fulfillment, etc.), across and/or        within electronic networks, including “unconnected,” virtually        connected, or periodically connected networks.

The Commerce Utility Systems may govern electronic process chains andelectronic event consequences related to, for example:

-   -   electronic advertising,    -   market and usage analysis,    -   electronic currency,    -   financial transaction clearing and communications,    -   manufacturing and other distributed process control models,    -   financial clearing,    -   enabling payment fulfillment or provision of other consideration        (including service fees, product fees or any other fees and/or        charges) based at least in part on content, process control        (event) and/or rights management,    -   performing audit, billing, payment fulfillment (or provision of        other consideration) and/or other clearing activities,    -   compiling, aggregating, using and/or providing information        relating to use of one or more secure containers and/or content        and/or processes (events), including contents of secure        containers and/or any other content,    -   providing information based upon usage auditing, user profiling,        and/or market surveying related to use of one or more secure        containers and/or content and/or processes (events),    -   employing information derived from user exposure to content        (including advertising) and/or use of processes (events),    -   providing object registry services; and/or rights, permissions,        prices, and/or other rules and controls information; for        registered and/or registering objects;    -   electronically certifying information used with and/or required        by rules and controls, such as authenticating identity, class        membership and/or other attributes of identity context including        for example, certification of class identity for automating        processes, such as rights related financial transaction        fulfillment based upon governing jurisdiction (taxation(s)),        employment and/or other group membership including, for example,        acquired class rights (e.g., purchased discount buyers club        membership); third party archiving and/or authenticating of        transactions and/or transaction information for secure backup        and non-repudiation,    -   providing programmed mixed arrays of Commerce Utility System        process control and automation services, where different        Commerce Utility Systems support different value chains and/or        business models requirements, and where such Commerce Utility        Systems further support distributed, scaleable, efficient        networked and/or hierarchical fixed and/or virtual clearinghouse        models which employ secure communication among a Commerce        Utility System's distributed clearinghouse protected processing        environments for passing clearinghouse related rules and        controls and derived, summarized, and/or detailed transaction        information,    -   EDI, electronic trading models, and distributed computing        arrangements where participants require trusted foundation that        enables efficient, distributed administration, automation, and        control of transaction value chains, and    -   other support and/or administrative services and/or functions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages provided by the presentinventions will become better and more completely understood by studyingthe following detailed description of presently preferred exampleembodiments in conjunction with the drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 shows an example Distributed Commerce Utility supporting aconsumer's example electronic appliance;

FIG. 1A shows a protected processing environment(s) (“PPE”) within theconsumer's electronic appliance(s);

FIG. 1B shows that the Distributed Commerce Utility may comprise anumber of example Commerce Utility Systems;

FIGS. 2A-2E show examples of how administrative and support servicefunctions can be distributed;

FIGS. 3A-3C show example distributed Commerce Utility Systems;

FIG. 4 shows an example web of Commerce Utility Systems;

FIG. 4A shows a limitless web of consumer appliances and CommerceUtility Systems;

FIG. 5 shows how rights holders can select between multiple CommerceUtility Systems connected to an electronic “information highway”;

FIG. 6 shows an example of how different Commerce Utility Systems canwork together;

FIG. 7 shows an example of how multiple administrative and supportservice functions can be combined and integrated within Commerce UtilitySystems;

FIG. 7A shows an example web of combined function Commerce UtilitySystems;

FIGS. 8A-8B show example Commerce Utility System hierarchies;

FIG. 9 shows an example hierarchy of multi-function Commerce UtilitySystems

FIG. 10 shows an example financial clearinghouse;

FIG. 11 shows an example usage clearinghouse;

FIG. 12 shows an example rights and permissions clearinghouse;

FIG. 13 shows an example certifying authority;

FIG. 14 shows an example secure directory service;

FIG. 15 shows an example transaction authority;

FIGS. 16A-16F show that Commerce Utility Systems can support othercommerce utility systems;

FIGS. 17A through 17D-3 show an example Commerce Utility Systemarchitecture;

FIG. 17E-1 through 17E-4 show Commerce Utility System exampleinteraction models;

FIG. 17F shows an example arrangement for distributing portions ofadministrative and support service operations;

FIG. 18 shows an example financial clearinghouse Commerce UtilitySystem;

FIG. 19 shows an example financial clearinghouse arrangement;

FIG. 20 shows an example financial clearing process;

FIGS. 20A-20F show an additional example of financial clearingactivities and processes;

FIG. 21 shows a simplified value chain (payment) disaggregation example;

FIG. 22 shows an example of how the FIG. 21 disaggregation can beimplemented within a financial clearinghouse context;

FIG. 22A shows an example arrangement for implementing paymentdisaggregation on a user protected processing environment;

FIG. 23 shows a more complex value chain (payment) disaggregationexample;

FIG. 24 shows an example of how disaggregation can be implemented withina financial clearinghouse context;

FIG. 25 shows a value chain disaggregation example that also detailscompensation to the Distributed Commerce Utility;

FIG. 26 shows an example value chain (payment) disaggregation to anynumber of payees;

FIG. 27 shows an additional example of how value chain (payment)disaggregation and redistribution may be accomplished through afinancial clearinghouse;

FIG. 28 shows an example superdistribution payment and redistributionscenario using a financial clearinghouse for financial clearing;

FIG. 29 shows an example value chain (payment) aggregation at a consumerprotected processing environment or other site;

FIG. 30 shows example value chain (payment) aggregation across multipletransactions;

FIG. 31 shows example value chain (payment) aggregation across multipletransactions and multiple consumers;

FIG. 32 shows an example Commerce Utility System architecture providingpayment aggregation;

FIG. 33 shows an example usage clearinghouse Commerce Utility System;

FIG. 34 shows an example usage clearinghouse architecture;

FIG. 35 shows an example usage clearing process;

FIG. 36 shows an additional example usage clearing process usingmultiple usage clearinghouses;

FIG. 37 shows an example usage clearing process using usage andfinancial clearinghouses;

FIG. 38 shows an example usage clearinghouse media placement process;

FIG. 39 shows an example usage clearing process providing discountsbased on different levels of consumer usage information disclosure;

FIG. 40 shows an example rights and permissions clearinghouse CommerceUtility System;

FIG. 41 shows an example rights and permissions clearinghousearchitecture;

FIG. 42 shows an example rights and permissions clearing process;

FIG. 42A shows an example control set registration process for updates;

FIG. 43 shows an additional example rights and permissions clearingprocess;

FIGS. 44A-44E show an additional rights and permissions clearingexample;

FIGS. 45A and 45B show example rights template(s);

FIG. 45C shows an example control set corresponding to the examplerights template(s);

FIG. 46 shows another example rights and permissions clearing process;

FIG. 47 shows an example certifying authority Commerce Utility System;

FIG. 48 shows an example certifying authority architecture;

FIG. 49 shows an example certifying process;

FIG. 50 shows an example distributed certifying process;

FIG. 50A shows an example control set that conditions performance and/orother consequences on the presence of digital certificates;

FIGS. 51A-51D show example digital certificate data structures;

FIG. 51E shows an example technique for generating digital certificatesbased on other digital certificates and a trusted database(s);

FIGS. 51F-51H show an example technique for defining a virtual entity;

FIG. 52 shows an example secure directory services Commerce UtilitySystem;

FIG. 53 shows an example secure directory services architecture;

FIG. 54 shows an example secure directory services process;

FIG. 55 shows an example transaction authority Commerce Utility System;

FIG. 56 shows an example transaction authority architecture;

FIG. 57 shows an example transaction authority process;

FIG. 58A shows an example of how the transaction authority creates acontrol superset;

FIG. 58B shows example steps performed by the transaction authority;

FIGS. 58C and 58D show an example secure checkpoint Commerce UtilitySystem;

FIGS. 59 and 60 show examples of how the Distributed Commerce Utilitycan support different electronic value chains;

FIG. 61 shows a purchase, licensing and/or renting example;

FIG. 62 shows a tangible item purchasing and paying example;

FIG. 63 shows an example of a customer securely paying for services;

FIG. 64 shows example value chain disaggregation for purchase oftangibles;

FIG. 65 shows an example of cooperation between Commerce Utility Systemsinternal and external to an organization;

FIG. 66 shows an example inter and intra organization transactionauthority example;

FIG. 67 shows an international trading example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Distributed Commerce Utility

FIG. 1 shows an example consumer appliance 100 electronically connectedto Distributed Commerce Utility 75. In this example, an electronicnetwork 150 connects appliance 100 to Distributed Commerce Utility 75.Distributed Commerce Utility 75 supports the activities going on withinconsumer appliance 100.

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 provides a foundation of administrativeand support services for electronic commerce and communications. Thisfoundation is efficient, cost effective, flexible, configurable,reusable, programmable and generalizable. It supports all kinds ofelectronic relationships, interactions and communications for bothpersonal and business use.

The Distributed Commerce Utility can Support any Electronic Appliance

Appliance 100 may be any sort of electrical or electronic device such asfor example, a computer, an entertainment system, a television set, or avideo player—just to name a few examples. In the particular exampleshown in FIG. 1, the consumer appliance 100 is a home color televisionset 102, a video player/recorder 104, and a set top box 106. Appliance100 may be controlled by hand held remote controller 108, for example.Set top box 106 could receive television programs from televisionbroadcasters 110 and/or satellites 112 via a cable television network114, for example. Player/recorder 104 could play various types ofprogram material from tapes, optical disks or other media, and may alsohave the capability of recording program materials received through settop box 106.

The Appliance 100 can have a “Protected Processing Environment”

Appliance 100 preferably is a secure electronic appliance of the typeshown for example in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the Ginter et al. patentspecification. It is preferably part of the “Virtual DistributionEnvironment” described in the Ginter, et al. patent specification. FIG.1A shows that television 102, set top box 106, media player/recorder 104and remote control 108 may each have a “protected processingenvironment” (“PPE”) 154. Distributed Commerce Utility 75 may interactwith and support the processes going on within each of these protectedprocessing environments 154.

Protected processing environments 154 may be based on one or morecomputer chips, such as a hardware and/or software based “secureprocessing unit” as shown in FIG. 9 of the Ginter et al. Patentspecification. The protected processing environment 154 provides ahighly secure, trusted environment in which electronic processes andtransactions can be reliably performed without significant danger oftampering or other compromise. The Ginter et al. patent disclosuredescribes techniques, systems and methods for designing, constructingand maintaining the protected processing environment 154 so that rightsholders and other value chain participants (including consumers 95) cantrust its security and integrity. In the preferred embodiment, thistrustedness is important in the interaction between the DistributedCommerce Utility 75 and electronic appliance 100.

The Distributed Commerce Utility can be Made Up of Many “CommerceUtility Systems”

FIG. 1B shows that Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can be made up of anumber of Commerce Utility Systems 90. There can be different kinds ofCommerce Utility Systems, for example:

-   -   a financial clearinghouse 200;    -   a usage clearinghouse 300;    -   a rights and permissions clearinghouse 400;    -   a certifying authority 500;    -   a secure directory services 600;    -   a transaction authority 700;    -   a VDE administrator 800; and    -   other kinds of Commerce Utility Systems 90.

Commerce Utility Systems 90 can support and administer functions oroperations within protected processing environment(s) 154. For example:

-   -   The appliance 100 protected processing environment 154 may        provide an automatic electronic payment mechanism 118 that        debits the consumers' bank or other money account based on        program consumption. Distributed Commerce Utility 75 may include        a special purpose Commerce Utility System 90 a called a        “financial clearinghouse” 200 that supports financial aspects of        the operation of the protected processing environment        154—ensuring that rights holders and others get paid appropriate        amounts and that the consumers 95 are not charged excessive        amounts.    -   The broadcaster of a television program 102 a may require        appliance 100's protected processing environment 154 to meter,        with an electronic usage metering mechanism 116, how much of        video program 102 a the consumers 95 watch, and which video        programs they watch. Distributed Commerce Utility 75 may include        a special purpose Commerce Utility System 90 b called a “usage        clearinghouse” 300 that receives usage information metered by a        usage meter 116 within the protected processing environment 154,        analyzes it and provides reports.    -   The rights holders in video program 102 a may insist upon the        protected processing environment 154 providing a copy protection        mechanism 120 that securely protects against copying video        program 102 a. Distributed Commerce Utility 75 may include a        special purpose Commerce Utility System 90 c called a “rights        and permissions clearinghouse” 400 that supplies the protected        processing environment 154 with necessary permissions to allow        consumers 95 to watch particular programs (for example, on a pay        per view basis) and to assist in enforcing prohibitions, such        as, for example, a copy protection mechanism 120.    -   Rights holders in video program 102 a may further require the        appliance 100 protected processing environment 154 to possess a        “digital certificate” 122 certifying the consumer's identity,        age, or the like before consumers 95 can watch video program 102        a. Distributed Commerce Utility 75 may include a special purpose        Commerce Utility System 90 d called a “certifying authority” 500        that creates and provides “digital certificates” 504 to the        protected processing environment 154—allowing the consumers to        efficiently interact with the permissions provided by the rights        holders.

Other Commerce Utility Systems 90 shown in FIG. 1B include:

-   -   A “Secure directory services” 600 that may assist the protected        processing environment 154 in communicating electronically with        other computers and appliances over network 150;    -   A “transaction authority” 700 that may be available for process        control and automation such as, for example, securely auditing        and overseeing complicated electronic transactions involving        protected processing environment 154; and    -   A virtual distribution environment (“VDE”) “administrator” 800        that may, in the preferred embodiment, keep the protected        processing environment 154 operating smoothly and securely.

Still other Commerce Utility Systems 90 not shown in FIG. 1B may be usedto administer and/or support additional functions and operations. Thevarious Commerce Utility Systems 90 can work together, dividing up theoverall tasks to support the consumers 95 efficiently and effectively.

Commerce Utility Systems can be Distributed

FIGS. 2A-2E show how Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can be distributed.Some administrative and support functions of Commerce Utility Systems 90can be performed within a consumer's electronic appliance 100—or even ina “spread out” fashion over a large number of different appliancescooperating together.

As described above, appliances 100 each provide a protected processingenvironment 154 that is tamper resistant and provides a secure place inwhich administrative and support operations can be performed. Thisallows an electronic appliance 100 within a consumer's home to performoperations that can trusted by other parties, such as rights holders,electronic commerce participants, and the like. Because of the trusted,protected characteristics of protected processing environment 154, theparts, extensions or even the entirety of a Commerce Utility System 90may exist within each or any of the protected processing environments154 and associated electronic appliances within the overall system.

FIGS. 2A-2E represent the overall functions of an example CommerceUtility System 90 such as Usage Clearinghouse 300 as a four-piece jigsawpuzzle. FIGS. 2A-2E show that these Commerce Utility System functionscan be distributed to varying degrees. For example:

-   -   FIG. 2A shows an example in which all functions of the Commerce        Utility System 90 are performed in a secure central facility.    -   FIG. 2B shows an example in which most functions of the Commerce        Utility System 90 are performed in a secure central facility,        but some of its functions are performed within the protected        processing environment 154 of a user electronic appliance 100.    -   FIG. 2C shows an example in which some functions of the Commerce        Utility System 90 are performed in a secure central facility,        but most of its functions are performed within the protected        processing environment 154 of a user electronic appliance 100.    -   FIG. 2D shows an example in which some functions of the Commerce        Utility System 90 are performed in a secure central facility,        some of its functions are performed within the protected        processing environment 154A of a first user electronic appliance        100A, and some of its functions are performed within the        protected processing environment 154B of a second user        electronic appliance 100B.    -   FIG. 2E shows an example in which none of the functions of the        Commerce Utility System 90 are performed in a secure central        facility; some of its functions are performed within the        protected processing environment 154(1) of a first user        electronic appliance 100(1), some of its functions are performed        within the protected processing environment 154(2) of a second        user electronic appliance 100(2),), some of its functions are        performed within the protected processing environment 154(3) of        a third user electronic appliance 100(3), and some of its        functions are performed within the protected processing        environment 154(N) of a Nth user electronic appliance 100(N).

Alternately or in addition, some of the functions of the CommerceUtility System 90 may be distributed within network 150—for example, inthe equipment used to communicate data between appliances 100.

Distributing Multiple Administrative and Support Functions

FIG. 3A shows how multiple Commerce Utility System 90 functions orsub-functions can be distributed into the same protected processingenvironment 154.

For example:

-   -   Financial clearinghouse function 200 a operating within consumer        appliance 100A's protected processing environment 154 a may        provide certain financial clearing such as auditing that can        take the place of and/or support some of the financial clearing        operations performed by a centralized financial clearinghouse        200.    -   Usage clearinghouse function 300 a operating within consumer        appliance 100A's protected processing environment 154 a may        perform certain usage information clearing operations, such as,        for example, combining or analyzing collected usage information        to complement, substitute for, or add to usage clearing        operations performed by usage clearinghouse 300.    -   Appliance 100A's protected processing environment 154 a may        perform certain rights and permissions clearing operations 400        a, certain certifying authority operations 500 a, and certain        secure directory services support operations 600 a all at the        consumer's site to complement, add to or substitute for        operations performed by rights and permissions clearinghouse        400, certifying authority 500 and secure directory services 600.

FIG. 3B shows that another example consumer electronic appliances100(2), . . . , 100N (in this case personal computers 124) might performdifferent combinations of support or administrative functions locally(for example, some or all of the functions performed by transactionauthority 700). For example:

-   -   the processes within protected processing environment 154(1) may        rely on a partially distributed and partially centralized        financial clearinghouse 200A, a partially distributed and        partially centralized usage clearinghouse 300A, a partially        distributed and partially centralized rights and permissions        clearinghouse 400A, a partially distributed and partially        centralized certifying authority 500A, a centralized secure        directory services 600A, and a centralized transaction authority        700A;    -   the processes within protected processing environment 154(2) may        rely on a centralized financial clearinghouse 200B, a partially        distributed and partially centralized usage clearinghouse 300B,        a partially distributed and partially centralized rights and        permissions clearinghouse 400B, a centralized certifying        authority 500B, a centralized secure directory services 600B,        and a partially distributed and partially centralized        transaction authority 700B; and    -   the processes within protected processing environment 154(N) may        rely on a partially distributed and partially centralized        financial clearinghouse 200N, a partially distributed and        partially centralized usage clearinghouse 300N, a partially        distributed and partially centralized rights and permissions        clearinghouse 400N, a partially distributed and partially        centralized certifying authority 500N, a partially distributed        and partially centralized secure directory services 600N, and a        partially distributed and partially centralized transaction        authority 700N.

Taking this concept of distributed clearing services further, it wouldbe possible to completely distribute the Distributed Commerce Utility 75as shown in FIG. 3C—relying mostly or completely on administrative andsupport service operations and activities within the secure, protectedprocessing environments 154 of users' electronic appliances 100. Thus,the users' own electronic appliances 100 could—in a distributedmanner—perform any or all of financial, usage, and rights andpermissions clearing, as well as certification, secure directoryservices and transaction authority services. Such “local” and/orparallel and/or distributed processing transaction clearing might moreefficiently accommodate the needs of individual consumers. For example,this is one way of allowing consumers to contribute controls thatprevent certain private data from ever leaving their own electronicappliance while nevertheless providing rightsholders with the summaryinformation they require.

The distributed arrangements shown in FIGS. 2A-2E and 3A-3C are notmutually exclusive ways of providing centralized Commerce Utility System90. To the contrary, it may be advantageous to provide hybridarrangements in which some administrative and support service functions(such as, for example, micro-payment aggregation, usage data privacyfunctions, and some issuing of certificates, such as parents issuingcertificates for their children) are widely distributed while otheradministrative and support service functions (for example, issuance ofimportant digital certificates, maintaining massive data basessupporting secure directory services, etc.) are much more centralized.The degree of distributedness of any particular administrative andsupport service, clearinghouse or function may depend on a variety ofvery important issues including, for example, efficiency, trustedness,scalability, resource requirements, business models, and other factors.In addition, the degree of distribution may involve multiple levels ofhierarchy based, for example, on sub-sets determined by specificbusiness models followed by specific business sub-models, or, forexample, geographic and/or governing body and/or region areas.

Since a given electronic appliance 100 can participate in multipleactivities, it is possible that its different activities may rely ondifferent blends of distributed and centralized Commerce Utility Systems90. For example, for one activity a protected processing environment 154may rely on a centralized financial clearinghouse 200, for anotheractivity it may rely on a partially distributed and partiallycentralized financial clearinghouse 200, and for still another activityit may rely on a wholly distributed financial clearinghouse 200.Different degrees of distributedness may be used for differentactivities or business models.

Web of Commerce Utility Systems

FIG. 4 shows that Commerce Utility System 75 may comprise a vast “web”of distributed, partly distributed and/or centralized Commerce UtilitySystems 90. Network 150 can be used to connect this web of CommerceUtility Systems 90 to a variety of different electronic appliances 100that can all share the Distributed Commerce Utility 75. For example,electronic network 150 can connect to:

-   -   set top boxes 106 and/or media players 104,    -   personal computers 124,    -   computer graphics workstations 126,    -   multi-media/video game systems 128, or    -   any other kinds of electronic appliances 100 including for        example, manufacturing control device, household appliances,        process control equipment, electronic networking and/or other        communication infrastructure devices, mainframe and/or mini        computers, etc.

In this example, the same Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can support avariety of different kinds of activities of a number of differentconsumers, authors, distributors, providers, merchants, and otherpeople—and the Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can support a very largevariety of different electronic activities. FIG. 4 also shows thatCommerce Utility Systems 90 may communicate with electronic appliances100 (and with each other) by exchanging electronic “containers” 152 ofthe type disclosed in Ginter et al. for purposes of security (forexample, secrecy, authenticity and integrity) and managed through theuse of secure rules and controls processed in protected processingenvironments.

The Commerce Utility Systems Web can be Virtually Limitless

FIG. 4A shows that the web of Commerce Utility Systems may be vast orlimitless. Indeed, network 150 may be a seamless web stretching aroundthe world and connecting millions upon millions of electronic applianceswith any number of Commerce Utility Systems 90.

The Commerce Utility Systems 90 web may provide a very complexinterconnection with a variety of different types of electronicappliances performing a variety of different electronic functions andtransactions. As mentioned above, any of electronic appliances 100 maybe able to communicate with any of the Commerce Utility Systems 90 orwith arts other electronic appliance. This allows maximum efficiency andflexibility in terms of allocating different Commerce Utility Systems todifferent electronic transactions. For example:

-   -   Geographically close Commerce Utility Systems might best be used        to minimize the amount of time it takes to get messages back and        forth.    -   In some cases, more distant Commerce Utility Systems might be        better equipped to efficiently handle certain kinds of        specialized transactions.    -   Government regulations might also, at least in part, dictate the        selection of certain Commerce Utility Systems over others. (for        example, a Japanese customer may run into legal problems if she        tries to use a financial clearinghouse 200 located in the Cayman        Islands—or a New Jersey resident might be required by law to        deal with a financial clearinghouse 200 that reports New Jersey        sales tax).    -   Different, competitive Commerce Utility Systems are likely to be        offered by different parties and these different systems would        populate the web comprising Distributed Commerce Utility 75.        Interoperability between such System and/or their nodes is        important for efficiency and to allow reusability of electronic        commerce resources.        Rights Holders and Providers can Choose Among Commerce Utility        Systems

FIG. 5 shows how rights holders can select between different CommerceUtility Systems 90. In this example, Bob operates a first usageclearinghouse 300 a, Alice operates a second usage clearinghouse 300 b,and Helen operates a third usage clearinghouse 300 c. These varioususage clearing service providers may compete with one another based onquality and/or price, or they may be complementary (for example, theymay each specialize in different kinds of transactions).

Because electronic network 150 may connect electronic appliances 100 tomany different Commerce Utility Systems 90, rightsholders in the digitalproperties the consumers are using may have a number of differentCommerce Utility Systems to choose from. Content providers and rightsholders may authorize particular (or groups of) Commerce Utility Systems90 to handle different aspects of transactions. For example:

-   -   Computer software distributor might specify that a personal        computer 124 should send metering information 116 a to Helen's        usage clearinghouse 300 c for monitoring usage of the computer        software or other activities performed by the personal computer.    -   A rights holder in video program 102 a might specify that set        top box 106 should send metering information 116 about the video        to Alice's usage clearinghouse.    -   A multimedia content provider might specify that Bob's usage        clearinghouse 300 a should be used for processing usage data 116        c generated by multimedia player 128.

In some instances, particular consumers 95 may also pay a role inspecifying in advance particular clearinghouses or other CommerceUtility Systems 90 they prefer to use. FIG. 5 illustrates the provider's(and/or consumer's) choice by a policeman directing metering traffic toselected usage clearinghouses 300 (electronic controls as describedherein and in Ginter et al. would preferably be the mechanism actuallycontrolling how traffic is directed).

A content provider or rights holder could allow a consumer 95 to selectfrom a group of Commerce Utility Systems 90 (and/or Commerce UtilitySystems 90 providers) the content provider/rights holder wants to dealwith. For example:

-   -   A television studio might authorize specific individual or        classes of Commerce Utility Systems 90 to handle transactions        relating to its television programs and/or it may specify        particular individual or classes of Commerce Utility Systems 90        that it doesn't want to have handle its transactions.    -   Particular Commerce Utility Systems 90 may set requirements or        standards for individual (or classes of) providers and/or        consumers 95.    -   Value chain participants could enter into legal agreements        and/or business relationships with different Commerce Utility        Systems 90.        Commerce Utility Systems can Work Together

FIG. 6 shows that different Commerce Utility Systems 90 can worktogether to support different kinds of operations. In this example:

-   -   Usage clearinghouse 300 a, rights and permissions clearinghouse        400 a, certifying authority 500 a, and financial clearinghouse        200 a (left-hand side of drawing) might be used to support a        particular operation by set top box 106 and television set 102.    -   The same financial clearinghouse 200 a but a different usage        clearinghouse 300 b, a different certifying authority 500 b and        a different rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 b (top of        drawing) might be used to support certain activities on personal        computer 124.    -   A still different financial clearinghouse 200 c, certifying        authority 500 c and usage clearinghouse 300 c but the same        rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 b (right-hand side of        drawing) might be used to support electronic activities of        multimedia system 128.    -   A still different combination of Commerce Utility Systems (in        this example, usage clearinghouse 300 c, financial clearinghouse        200 d, rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 c and certifying        authority 500 a along the bottom of the drawing) might be used        to support sound system 130.

This example shows that various Commerce Utility Systems 90 may operatein combination, and that different combinations of Commerce UtilitySystems might be used to support different electronic transactions.

Administrative and Support Service Functions can be Combined withinGeneral Purpose Commerce Utility Systems for Efficiency or Convenience

FIG. 7 shows that different special purpose Commerce Utility Systems 90administrative and support service functions or sub-functions may beintegrated together into more general or multi-purpose Commerce UtilitySystems 90 for maximum convenience, efficiency or other reasons. Forexample:

-   -   Bob may operate an integrated or combined Commerce Utility        System 90 a providing a financial clearinghouse 200 a function,        a certifying authority 500 a function, and a usage clearinghouse        300 a function.    -   Anne may operate an integrated or combined Commerce Utility        System 90 b providing a financial clearinghouse function 200 b,        a rights and permissions clearinghouse function 400 b and a        transaction authority function 700 b.    -   Helen may operate an integrated or combined Commerce Utility        System 90 c providing a rights and permissions clearinghouse        function 400 c and a certifying authority function 500 c.    -   Roger may operate an integrated or combined Commerce Utility        System 90 d providing secure directory services 600 d, usage        clearinghouse services 300 d, financial clearinghouse services        200 d and rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 d.

A consumer operating electronic appliances 100 may access any or all ofthese different Commerce Utility Systems 90 or combinations. Forexample, set top box 106 might obtain rights and permissions andcertificates from Helen's Commerce Utility System 90 c, but might makeuse of Bob's Commerce Utility System 90 a for financial clearing andusage analysis.

A Commerce Utility System 90 may provide any combination ofadministrative and support functions or subfunctions as may be desirableto perform the operations required in certain business models, providemaximum efficiency, and/or maximize convenience. For example, Anne'sCommerce Utility System 90(2) might provide only a specialized subset offinancial clearinghouse function

FIG. 7A shows another illustration of how Commerce Utility Systems 90can offer a wide variety of different combinations or subcombinations ofadministrative and support functions. In this FIG. 7A diagram, each ofthe various administrative and support service functions is represented(for purposes of illustration) as a different kind of child's playblock:

-   -   financial clearing functions 200 are shown as square blocks,    -   Usage clearing functions 300 are shown as half-circle blocks,    -   Rights and permissions clearing functions 400 are shown as        rectangular blocks,    -   Certifying authority functions 500 are shown as triangular        blocks,    -   Secure directory service functions 600 are shown as tunnel        blocks, and    -   Transaction authority functions 700 are shown as cylinders.

Consumer and user appliances 100 are shown as standing-up rectangularcolumns in the diagram. Electronic network 150 is shown as a road whichconnects the various Commerce Utility Systems to one another and toconsumer electronic appliances 100. Electronic digital containers 152may be carried along this electronic network or “information highway”150 between different electronic installations.

FIG. 7A illustrates just some of the many possible administrative andsupport service combinations that might be used. For example:

-   -   In the upper left-hand corner, a Commerce Utility System 90A        provides at least some financial clearing functions 200 a, at        least some rights and permissions clearing functions 400 a, and        at least some certifying functions 500 a. This type of overall        electronic Commerce Utility System 90A might, for example, be in        the business of managing and granting rights on behalf of rights        holders and in handling payments based on those rights.    -   The Commerce Utility System 90D just to the right of        installation 90A comprises financial clearing services 200 d and        transaction authority services 700 a. It might be especially        useful in, for example, auditing and/or managing an overall        complex multi-step transaction while also ensuring that        appropriate parties to the transaction are paid.    -   In the lower center of the diagram there is a Commerce Utility        System 90B including financial clearing functions 200 f and        usage clearing functions 300 c. This Commerce Utility System 90B        could be especially useful, for example, for handling payment        and other financial details relating to electronic usage        transactions and also providing audit and report services based        on the electronic usage.    -   The Commerce Utility System 90C shown in the bottom center of        the drawing combines certifying authority services 500 with        usage clearing services 300 f. It could be especially useful in        issuing digital certificates and then tracking the usage of        those certificates (for example, in order to evaluate risks,        potential liability, insurance costs, etc.).

The various examples shown in FIG. 7A are for purposes of illustration.Other combinations are possible or likely depending on businessobjectives, convenience and other factors.

Commerce Utility System Hierarchies

FIG. 8A shows that Commerce Utility Systems 90 or functions can bearranged in a hierarchy. For example, an overall financial (or other)clearinghouse 200(N) may oversee and/or have ultimate responsibility forthe operations of numerous other financial (or other) sub-clearinghouses200(1), 200(2), . . . . In the FIG. 8A example, a consumer electronicappliance 100 might interact with a clearinghouse 200(1), which might inturn interact with another clearinghouse 200(2), etc. Thisadministrative and support service “hierarchy” might be thought of asbeing similar in some ways to a chain of command in a large corporationor in the military—with some clearinghouses exercising and/or delegatingpower, control and/or supervision over other clearinghouses.

FIG. 8B shows another example of a administrative and support servicehierarchy. In this example, a number of centralized overallclearinghouses and/or other Commerce Utility Systems 90 delegate some orall of their work responsibilities to other Commerce Utility Systems 90.In this particular example shown, organizations, such as companies,non-profit groups or the like may have their own Commerce UtilitySystems 156. Certain electronic commerce or other activities (theentertainment industry, for example) might have their ownvertically-specialized Commerce Utility Systems 158. Certaingeographical, territorial or jurisdictional groups (e.g., all purchasersof particular products within the state of Wisconsin) may have their ownterritorial/jurisdictional specialized Commerce Utility Systems 160.Commerce Utility Systems 156, 158, 160 lower in the hierarchy may, inturn, further delegate authorities or responsibilities to particularconsumers, organizations or other entities.

In one example arrangement, the Commerce Utility Systems 90 to whichauthority has been delegated may perform substantially all of the actualsupport work, but may keep the more over arching Commerce UtilitySystems 90 informed through reporting or other means. In anotherarrangement, the over arching Commerce Utility Systems 90 have noinvolvement whatsoever with day to day activities of the CommerceUtility Systems to whom they have delegated work. In still anotherexample arrangement, the more specialized Commerce Utility Systems dosome of the work and the more overarching Commerce Utility Systems doother parts of the work. The particular division of work and authorityused in a particular scenario may largely depend on factors such asefficiency, trustedness, resource availability, the kinds oftransactions being managed, and a variety of other factors. Delegationof clearing authority may be partial (e.g., delegate usage aggregationbut not financial or rights management responsibilities), and may beconsistent with peer-to-peer processing (e.g., by placing some functionswithin consumers' electronic appliances while keeping some moreimportant functions centralized).

Multi-Function Commerce Utility Systems can be Organized Hierarchicallyor Peer-to-Peer

FIG. 9 shows a still different, more complex Commerce Utility Systemenvironment including elements of both a hierarchical chain of commandand a high degree of cooperation in the horizontal direction betweendifferent multi-function Commerce Utility Systems 90. In this example,there are five different levels of responsibility with a master oroverarching Commerce Utility Systems 90(1) (for example, a financialclearinghouse 200) on level 1 having the most authority and withadditional Commerce Utility Systems on levels 2, 3, 4, and 5 havesuccessively less power, authority, control, scope and/orresponsibility. FIG. 9 also shows that different Commerce UtilitySystems on the same level may have different functions, scopes and/orareas of responsibility. For example:

-   -   a Commerce Utility System 90(2)(1) may be a “type A” Commerce        Utility System,    -   Commerce Utility System 90(2)(2) might be a “type B” Commerce        Utility System, and    -   Commerce Utility System 90(2)(3) might be a “type C” Commerce        Utility System.

On the next level down, Commerce Utility Systems might be type ACommerce Utility System (such as, 90(3)(1) and 90(3)(2)), they might betype B Commerce Utility Systems (such as, 90(3)(4)), they might be typeC Commerce Utility Systems (such as, 90(3)(5), 90(3)(6)), or they mightbe hybrids—such as, Commerce Utility System 90(3)(3) which is a hybridhaving type A and type B functions.

FIG. 9 also shows that additional clearinghouses on levels 4 and 5 mighthave sub-types as well as types. In the context of a financialclearinghouse 200 for example, Type A might be responsible for consumercredit, Type B for electronic checks, and Type C for commercial credit.Another demarcation might be clearing for Visa (Type A), Mastercard(Type B) and American Express (Type C). A Type A/B clearinghouse wouldthen be a clearing delegation that could handle both consumer credit andelectronic check clearing. A Type B Subtype I might be responsible forcommercial electronic checks. A Type C Subtype I might be commercialcredit card transactions, and Subtype III might be credit drafts. Therationale for multiple instances might be based on jurisdictionalboundaries (e.g., France, Germany, New York, and Alabama), and/orcontractual arrangements (e.g., delegation of responsibility for badcredit risks, small purchasers, very large transactions, etc.) Thepeer-to-peer dimension might reflect a need to coordinate an overalltransaction (e.g., between a small purchaser's clearinghouse and a largecommercial player's clearinghouse).

A rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 might break out along contenttypes (e.g., movies; scientific, technical and medical; and software).Subtype A might include first run movies, oldies, and art films; subtypeB might handle journals and textbooks; and type C might be responsiblefor games, office, educational content. Peer-to-peer communicationsbetween clearinghouses could involve multimedia presentation permissions(e.g., a multimedia presentation might have permissions stored at oneclearinghouse that uses a back channel to other clearinghouses to ensurethat the latest permissions are distributed).

Some Example Commerce Utility Systems

As described above, Commerce Utility Systems 90 are generalized andprogrammable—and can therefore provide a mix of different support andadministration functions to meet requirements of a given transaction.Thus, many or most Commerce Utility Systems 90 as actually implementedmay provide a range of different support and administrative functionsthat may make it difficult to categorize the implementation as being ofone particular “kind” of Commerce Utility System as opposed to another.

Nevertheless, certain types of idealized specialized Commerce UtilitySystems 90 are particularly useful for a wide range of models,transactions and applications. It is helpful and convenient to describesome of the characteristics of these “pure” Commerce Utility Systems ofdifferent types—recognizing that actual implementations may mixfunctions or function subsets from several of these idealized models.The following are brief vignettes of some of the characteristics of such“pure” idealized Commerce Utility Systems.

Financial Clearinghouse 200

FIG. 10 shows an example financial clearinghouse 200 in more detail.Financial clearinghouse 200 handles payments to ensure that those whoprovide value are fairly compensated. Financial clearinghouse 200 maysecurely coordinate with other Commerce Utility Systems 90 in performingthis task.

In this example, financial clearinghouse 200 may communicate withappliance protected processing environment 154 over electronic network150 in a secure manner using electronic containers 152 of the typedescribed, for example, in the Ginter et al. patent specification inconnection with FIGS. 5A and 5B. Financial clearinghouse 200 may receivepayment information 202 from protected processing environment 154 inthese secure containers 152, and interact electronically or otherwisewith various banking, credit card or other financial institutions toensure that appropriate payment is made.

Financial clearinghouse 200 may, for example, interact with a consumer'sbank 206 a, a provider's bank 206 b and a consumer's credit card company206 c. For example, financial clearinghouse 200 can debit funds from theconsumer's bank 206 a and credit funds to the rights holder's bank 206 bto pay for the consumers' watching of a movie, television program orother content. Additionally or alternately, financial clearinghouse 200may interact with a consumer's credit card company 206 c to requestcredit checks, obtain credit authorizations, payments and the like.

Financial clearinghouse 200 may provide payment statement statements 204to consumers 95—for example, by transmitting the statements to appliance100 in a secure electronic container 152 b to preserve theconfidentiality of the statement information. In this example, consumers95 can view the statements 204 using their appliance 100 protectedprocessing environment 154, and may also be able to print or save themfor record-keeping purposes.

In one example, the payment mechanism 118 provided by protectedprocessing environment 154 might be an electronic wallet supplyingelectronic money for use in paying for electronic services or content.This electronic wallet may hold money in digital form. Consumers 95 canspend the digital money on whatever they wish. When the electronicwallet is empty, consumers 95 can have the financial clearinghouse 200replenish the wallet by authorizing the financial clearinghouse to debitthe funds from the consumers' account in their bank 206 a. Financialclearinghouse 200 may process electronic money payments, arrange for theelectronic wallet to be refilled automatically (based on the consumers'pre-authorization, for example) when the consumers have spent all of itsformer contents, and provide the consumers with detailed reports andstatements 204 about how they have spent their electronic money.

Usage Clearinghouse 300

FIG. 11 shows an example usage clearinghouse 300. Usage clearinghouse300 in this example receives usage information 302 from usage meter 116,analyzes the usage information and provides reports based on theanalysis it performs. Usage clearinghouse 300 may securely coordinatewith other Commerce Utility Systems 90 in accomplishing these tasks.

For example, usage clearinghouse 300 may send the consumers 95 adetailed report 304 a of all the movies, television programs and othermaterial the consumers have watched over the last month. Thecommunication between protected processing environment 154 and usageclearinghouse 300 may be in the form of secure containers 152. Asdescribed in the Ginter et al. patent disclosure, usage meter 116 canmeter use on the basis of a number of different factors, and can rangefrom being extremely detailed to being turned off altogether. Theconsumers, if they desire, could view the detailed usage report 304 a ontheir television set 102.

Usage clearinghouse 300 can report to others about the consumers'viewing habits consistent with protecting the consumers' privacy. Thesereports can also be sent within secure containers 152. For example,usage clearinghouse 300 might provide a summary report 304 b toadvertisers 306 that does not reveal the consumers' identity butprovides the advertisers with valuable information about the consumers'viewing habits. On the other hand, with the consumers' consent, usageclearinghouse 300 could provide a more detailed report revealing theconsumers' identity to advertisers 306 or to other specified people. Inreturn, the consumers 95 could be given incentives, such as, forexample, discounts, cash, free movies, or other compensation.

Usage clearinghouse 300 can also issue reports 304 c to rights holders308—such as the producer or director of the video program 102 a theconsumers 95 are watching. These reports allow the rights holders toverify who has watched their program material and other creations. Thiscan be very useful in ensuring payment, or in sending the consumersother, similar program material they may be interested in.

Usage clearinghouse 300 might also send reports 304 d to a ratingscompany 310 for the purpose of automatically rating the popularity ofcertain program material. Usage clearinghouse 300 might also sendreports to other market researchers 312 for scientific, marketing orother research.

Rights and Permissions Clearinghouse 400

FIG. 12 shows an example rights and permissions clearinghouse 400.Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 stores and distributeselectronic permissions 404 (shown as a traffic light in these drawings).Permissions 404 grant and withhold permissions, and also defineconsequences. Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may work withother Commerce Utility Systems 90 to accomplish its tasks.

In this example, rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may act as acentralized “repository” or clearinghouse for rights associated withdigital content. For example, broadcasters, authors, and other contentcreators and rights owners can register permissions with the rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 in the form of electronic “control sets.”These permissions can specify what consumers can and can't do withdigital properties, under what conditions the permissions can beexercised and the consequences of exercising the permissions. Rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 can respond to requests 402 fromelectronic appliance protected processing environment 154 by deliveringpermissions (control sets) 188 in response.

For example, suppose that consumers 95 want to watch a concert or afight on television set 102. They can operate their remote control unit108 to request the right to watch a certain program. Protectedprocessing environment 154 may automatically contact rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 over electronic network 150 and send anelectronic request 402. The rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 can“look up” the request in its library or repository to see if it hasreceived (and is authorized to provide) the necessary permission 404 bfrom the program's rights holder 400. It may then send the requestedpermission 188 to protected processing environment 154.

For example, permission 188 might allow the consumers to view theconcert or fight only once and prohibit its copying with copy protectionmechanism 120. Permission 188 may also (or in addition) specify theprice for watching the program (for example, $5.95 to be deducted fromthe consumers' electronic wallet). Appliance 100 can ask the consumers95 if they want to pay $5.95 to watch the program. If they answer “yes”(indicated, for example, by operating remote control 108), the appliance100 can automatically debit the consumers' electronic wallet and“release” the program so the consumers can watch it.

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 can deliver permissions 188within a secure container 152 b that may optionally also contain theinformation controlled by the permissions—or permission 188 may arriveat a different time and over a different path than the program or othercontent travels to the appliance 100. For example, the permissions couldbe sent over network 150, whereas the program it is associated with mayarrive directly from satellite 112 or over some other path such as cabletelevision network 114 (see FIG. 1).

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may also issue reports 406 torights holders or other people indicating which permissions have beengranted or denied. For example, the author of a book or video might,consistent with consumer privacy concerns, be able to learn the exactnumber of people who have requested the right to publish excerpts fromhis or her work. These kinds of reports can supplement reports providedby usage clearinghouse 300.

Certifying Authority 500

FIG. 13 shows an example of a certifying authority 500. Certifyingauthority 500 issues digital certificates 504 that provide a context forelectronic rights management. Certifying authority 500 may coordinatewith other Commerce Utility Systems 90 to accomplish its tasks.

Certifying authority 500 issues digital certificates 504 that certifyparticular facts. Digital certificate 122 is like a driver's license ora high school diploma in some respects, since they each provide proof ofa certain fact. For example, we may show our drivers' license to provethat we are old enough to vote, buy liquor, or watch an “R” rated movie.This same driver's license attests to the fact that we have a certainname and live at a certain address, and that we have certain knowledge(of state motor vehicle laws) and skills (the ability to maneuver amotor vehicle). Digital certificate 504 is similar to that aspect of adriver's license that confirms the identity of, and related factspertaining to the licensee, except that it is made out of digitalinformation instead of a laminated card.

In this example, certifying authority 500 may receive consumer requestsand associated evidence 502, and may issue corresponding digitalcertificates 504 that certify particular facts. Certifying authority 500may also receive evidence, credentials and possibly also certificatedefinitions from other people such as government authorities 506,professional organizations 508 and universities 510. As one example, thecertifying authority 500 might receive birth certificate or otheridentity information from a government authority 506. Based on thisidentity information, the certifying authority 500 may prepare and issuea digital certificate 504 that attests to person's identity and age. Thecertifying authority 500 might also issue digital certificates 504attesting to professional status, employment, country of residence, or avariety of other classes and categories based on various evidence andinputs from various people.

Certifying authority 500 may certify organizations and machines as wellas people. For example, certifying authority 500 could issue acertificate attesting to the fact that Stanford University is anaccredited institution of higher learning, or that the ACMETransportation Company is a corporation in good standing and isauthorized to transport hazardous materials. Certifying authority 500could also, for example, issue a certificate 504 to a computer attestingto the fact that the computer has a certain level of security or isauthorized to handle messages on behalf of a certain person ororganization.

Certifying authority 500 may communicate with protected processingenvironment 154 and with other parties by exchanging electroniccontainers 152. Electronic appliance 100's protected processingenvironment 154 may use the digital certificates 504 the certifyingauthority 500 issues to manage or exercise permissions 188 such as thoseissued by rights and permissions clearinghouse 400. For example, set topbox 106 might automatically prevent any consumer under 17 years of agefrom watching certain kinds of program material, or it might provide apayment discount to students watching educational material—all based oncertificates 504 issued by certifying authority 500.

Secure Directory Services

FIG. 14 shows an example of secure directory services 600. Securedirectory services 600 acts something like a computerized telephone orname services directory. Consumers 95 can send a request 602 specifyingthe information they need. Secure directory services 600 can “look up”the information and provide the answer 604 to consumers 95. Securedirectory services 600 can work with other Commerce Utility Systems 90to perform its tasks.

For example, suppose consumers 95 want to electronically order a pizzafrom Joe's Pizza. They decide what kind of pizza they want (large cheesepizza with sausage and onions for example). However, they don't knowJoe's Pizza's electronic address (which may be like an electronic phonenumber). Consumers 95 can use remote control 108 to input informationabout what they want to have looked up (“Joe's Pizza, Lakeville,Conn.”). Protected processing environment 154 may generate a request 602containing the identification information and send this request tosecure directory services 600. It can send the request in a securecontainer 152 a.

When secure directory services 600 receives the request 602, it mayaccess a database to locate the requested information. Secure directoryservices 600 may have earlier obtained Joe's electronic address directlyfrom Joe or otherwise. Secure directory services 600 may send therequested information back to appliance 100 in a response 604. Response604 may also be in a secure container 152 b. The consumers 95 can usethis information to electronically send their order to Joe's Pizza—whichcan display on Joe's order terminal within a few seconds after theconsumers send it. Joe may deliver to consumer 95 a piping hot cheese,sausage and onion pizza a few minutes later (by car—notelectronically—since a physical pizza is much more satisfying than anelectronic one).

Secure directory services 600 can help anyone connected to network 150contact anyone else. As one example, secure directory services 600 cantell usage clearinghouse 300 how to find a financial clearinghouse 200on network 150. Any electronic appliance 100 connected to network 150could use secure directory services 150 to help contact any otherelectronic appliance.

As mentioned above, the request 602 to secure directory services 600 andthe response 604 it sends back may be encased within secure containers152 of the type described in the Ginter et al patent specification. Theuse of secure containers 152 helps prevent eavesdroppers from listeninginto the exchange between consumers 95 and secure directory services600. This protects the consumers' privacy. The consumers 95 may not careif someone listens in to their pizza order, but may be much moreconcerned about protecting the fact that they are correspondingelectronically with certain other people (e.g., doctors, banks, lawyers,or others they have a relationship of confidence and trust with). Securecontainers 152 also help ensure that messages sent across network 150are authentic and have not been altered. Electronic containers 152 allowJoe's Pizza to trust that the just-received pizza order actually camefrom consumers 95 (as opposed to someone else) and has not been altered,and the consumers can be relatively sure that no one will send Joe afake pizza order in their name. The use of secure containers 152 andprotected processing environment 154 in the preferred embodiment alsoensures that the consumers 95 cannot subsequently deny that theyactually placed the order with Joe's Pizza if they in fact did so.

Transaction Authority 700

FIG. 15 shows an example transaction authority 700. Transactionauthority 700 in this example provides process control and automation.It helps ensure that processes and transactions are completedsuccessfully. Transaction authority 700 may work with other CommerceUtility Systems 90 to perform and complete its tasks.

In more detail, transaction authority 700 in this example monitors thestatus of an electronic transaction and/or process and maintains asecure, reliable record of what has happened so far and what still needsto happen for the overall transaction and/or process to complete.Transaction authority 700 may also, if desired, perform a more activerole by, for example, generating requests for particular actions tooccur. Transaction authority 700 may in some cases be the onlyparticipant in a complex transaction or process that “knows” all of thesteps in the process. Transaction authority 700 can also electronicallydefine an overall process based on electronic controls contributed byvarious participants in the process.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of how transaction authority 700 can beused to allow consumers 95 to order merchandise such as a sweater. Inthis particular electronic home shopping example (which is for purposesof illustration but is not intended to be limiting in any way), theconsumers 95 can use their remote control 108 to select the particularseller, style and color of a sweater they want to order at a particularprice. In this home shopping example, appliance 100's protectedprocessing environment 154 may generate an electronic order 702 which itsends to the order receiving department 704 of an electronic “mailorder” company. The order 702 may be sent within a secure container 152a.

In this example, transaction authority 700 may assist the electronicmail order company to coordinate activities and make sure that all stepsrequired to deliver the sweater are performed in an accurate and timelyfashion. For example:

-   -   Upon receiving the electronic order 702, the order receiving        department 704 might provide an electronic notification 706 to        transaction authority 700. The transaction authority 700 stores        the electronic notification 706, and may issue a “requirement”        708.    -   Transaction authority 700 may have issued the requirement 708        before the order was placed so that the order receiving        department 704 knows what to do when the order comes in.    -   In accordance with the “requirement” 708, order receiving        department 704 may issue an electronic and/or paper (or other)        version of the order 710 to a manufacturing department 712.    -   The transaction authority 700 may issue a manufacturing        requirement 714 to the manufacturing department to make the        sweater according to the consumers' preferences.    -   Transaction authority 700 might also issue a supply requirement        716 to a supplier 718. For example, transaction authority 700        may request supplier 718 to deliver supplies, such as balls of        yarn 711, so manufacturer 712 has the raw materials to        manufacture the sweater.    -   Supplier 718 may notify transaction authority 700 when it has        delivered the supplies by issuing a notification 720.    -   When manufacturing department 712 has finished the sweater, it        may alert transaction authority 700 by sending it a notification        722.    -   In response to the notification 722 sent by manufacturing        department 712, transaction authority 700 may issue a shipping        requirement 724 to a shipping department 726, for example,        requesting the shipping department to pick up completed sweater        728 from the manufacturing department and to deliver it to the        consumers.    -   Transaction authority 700 may coordinate with other Commerce        Utility Systems 90, such as a financial clearinghouse 200, to        arrange payment.

Of course, this example is for purposes of illustration only.Transaction authority 700 may be used for all kinds of different processcontrol and automation such as, for example, handling electronic ordersand sales, electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic contractnegotiation and/or execution, electronic document delivery, inter andintra company transactions, and the secure electronic integration ofbusiness processes within or among business organizations—just to name afew of many useful applications.

VDE Administration Services 800

VDE administrator 800 (see FIG. 1 of this application and FIG. 1A andassociated discussion in the Ginter et al. specification) may, in thepreferred embodiment, provide a variety of electronic maintenance andother functions to keep network 150, appliance 100 protected processingenvironments 154 and Distributed Commerce Utility 75 operating securely,smoothly and efficiently. For example, VDE administrator 800 may managecryptographic keys used for electronic security throughout network 150,and may also provide services relating to the maintenance of secure databy appliances 100, the various Commerce Utility Systems 90, and otherelectronic appliances. As described in detail in the Ginter et al.patent disclosure, other important functions performed by VDEadministrator 800 include installing and configuring protectedprocessing environments 154, and helping protected processingenvironments to securely maintain stored permissions and/or usage data.The VDE administrator 800 may work with other Commerce Utility Systems90.

Commerce Utility Systems 90 can Support One Another

In addition to supporting consumers 95, Commerce Utility Systems 90 cansupport other Commerce Utility Systems. This is shown in FIGS. 16A-16F.For example:

-   -   financial clearinghouse 200 can help ensure other Commerce        Utility Systems 90 are paid for their contributions (see FIG.        16A); and    -   usage clearinghouse 300 (see FIG. 16B) may inform other Commerce        Utility Systems 90 concerning how the support they provide is        being used. For example, usage clearinghouse 300 may tell        certifying authority 500 how the certifying authority's        certificates have been used (very useful for the certifying        authority to keep tabs on the amount of potential liability it        is undertaking or in helping to detect fraudulent certificates).    -   FIG. 16C shows that a rights and permissions clearinghouse 400        can support other Commerce Utility Systems 90 such as, for        example, a financial clearinghouse 200, a usage clearinghouse        300, another rights and permissions clearinghouse 400′, a        certifying authority 500, a secure directory services 600, and a        transaction authority 700.    -   Certifying authority 500 can issue digital certificates 504        certifying the operation of one or more other Commerce Utility        Systems 90 (see FIG. 16D)—supporting other Commerce Utility        Systems 90 such as, for example, a financial clearinghouse 200,        a usage clearinghouse 300, a rights and permissions        clearinghouse 400, another certifying authority 500′, secure        directory services 600, and transaction authority 700.    -   FIG. 16E shows that a secure directory services 600 may support        other Commerce Utility Systems 90, such as, for example,        financial clearinghouse 200, usage clearinghouse 300, rights and        permissions clearinghouse 400, certifying authority 500, other        secure directory services 600′, and transaction authority 700.    -   FIG. 16F shows that a transaction authority 700 can support        other Commerce Utility Systems 90, such as, for example, a        financial clearinghouse 200, a usage clearinghouse 300, a rights        and permissions clearinghouse 400, a certifying authority 500, a        secure directory services 600, and another transaction authority        700′.        “A Piece of the Tick”

The Commerce Utility Systems 90 described herein provide valuable,important services and functions. The operators of such services can andshould be compensated for the services they provide. FinancialClearinghouse Commerce Utility Systems 200 can ensure that they andother support service providers receive this compensation withoutinconvenience to other electronic community and value chainparticipants.

In assisting or compensating value chain participants, a CommerceUtility System 90 may (based on pre-approved contractual arrangements)take its own portion or percentage to compensate it for the clearingservices it provides. Support services can be compensated based on asmall portion of payment (i.e., a “micro-payment”) attributable to eachelectronic transaction (a “piece of the tick”). Providers may pass someor all of these fees along to their own value chain participants invarious ways.

Several different classes of value chain participants may be called uponto compensate the Commerce Utility Systems 90, including:

-   -   Information Consumers (including for example, people who make        use of the information “exhaust” generated by electronic        commerce, electronic transaction management and rights        management activities);    -   Content Rightsholders and other Electronic Providers;    -   Participants in the broadest range of secure, distributed        electronic commerce transactions;    -   In addition, various support service providers may also need to        support one another in various ways—and may therefore need to        compensate one another. For example:    -   One Commerce Utility System 90 may act as an intermediary for        another Commerce Utility System 90's customer;    -   One Commerce Utility System 90 may be required to support the        operation of another Commerce Utility System 90; and/or    -   Commerce Utility System 90 s may need to work together to        support a common transaction.

Different Commerce Utility System 90 s may cooperate to establish acommon fee that they then divide among themselves. In another scenario,each Commerce Utility System 90 may independently charge for the valueof its own services. There may be competition among different CommerceUtility System 90 s based on quality of service and price—just as creditcard companies now compete for providers' and consumers' business.

Example Distributed Commerce Utility System Architecture

The Ginter et al. patent disclosure describes, at pages 180 andfollowing, and shows in FIG. 10-12, for example, a “Rights OperatingSystem” providing a compact, secure, event-driven, compartmentalized,services-based, “component” oriented, distributed multi-processingoperating system environment that integrates VDE security controlinformation, components, and protocols with traditional operating systemconcepts. The preferred example Commerce Utility System 90 architectureprovided in accordance with these inventions builds upon and extends theRights Operating System described in Ginter et al.

For example, the preferred example Commerce Utility System 90architecture provides a collection of service functions that the RightsOperating System may execute as applications. These service functionsdefine a variety of useful tasks that any and/or all Commerce UtilitySystems 90 may need to perform. These service functions aredistributable, scaleable and reusable. They can be combined in variouscombinations and sub-combinations—depending upon business models, forexample—to provide the overall functionality desired for any particularCommerce Utility System 90 implementation.

FIG. 17A shows an example overall architecture of a Commerce UtilitySystem 90, FIG. 17B shows an example of the application architecture ofa Commerce Utility System, and FIG. 17C shows more detail of a servicefunction.

Referring first to FIG. 17B, in this example the application softwarearchitecture for a Commerce Utility System 90 contains a commerceutility system descriptor 90A. Commerce utility system descriptor 90Acontains information about the Commerce Utility System 90 that may beused to identify such system and its capabilities, as well as todescribe, aggregate and/or interface with any number of servicefunctions 90B(1), 90B(2), . . . . Commerce utility system descriptor 90Aand service functions 90B may, for example, be implemented using objectoriented programming techniques to help ensure that such descriptor andservice functions are modular and reusable—as well as abstracting thespecifics of how actions requested of Commerce Utility System 90 areactually carried out and/or implemented.

Commerce utility system descriptor 90A(1) may also be responsible forcoordinating the action of service functions 90B. In this example,descriptor 90A is used to direct requests and other system actions tothe appropriate service functions 90B, and to ensure that actionsrequiring more than one service function are coordinated by reconcilingdifferences in interfaces, data types and the like that may existbetween the service functions 90B—as well as helping to direct overallprocess flow amongst the various service functions 90B. A non-exhaustivelist of examples of such service functions 90B include the following:

-   -   audit,    -   maintaining records,    -   overseeing processes,    -   monitoring status,    -   complete process definition,    -   process control,    -   interface(s) to settlement services,    -   funds transfer,    -   currency conversion,    -   tax calculation and application,    -   account creation and identifier assignment,    -   payment aggregation,    -   payment disaggregation,    -   budget pre-authorization,    -   status notification,    -   confirmation,    -   uncompleted events record,    -   requirements generation,    -   report generation,    -   event consequences,    -   account reconciliation,    -   identity authentication,    -   electronic currency creation,    -   event database management,    -   routing database,    -   generating requests,    -   replication,    -   propagation,    -   usage database management,    -   bill creation and processing,    -   market research,    -   negotiation,    -   control set database management,    -   control set generation,    -   process control logic,    -   event flow generation,    -   routing,    -   archiving,    -   rights and permissions database management,    -   template database management,    -   commerce management language processing,    -   rights management language processing,    -   advertising database management,    -   automatic class generation,    -   automatic class assignment,    -   notary,    -   seal generator,    -   digital time stamp,    -   fingerprint/watermark,    -   offers and counteroffers,    -   object registry,    -   object identifier assignment,    -   copyright registration,    -   control set registry,    -   template registry,    -   certificate creation,    -   revocation list maintenance,    -   director database management,    -   database query and response processing,    -   other service functions.

FIG. 17C shows more detail of a service function 90B. In this example,service function 90B is comprised of a service function descriptor 90C,and any number of service application components 90D(1), 90D(2), . . . .Service function descriptor 90C performs a role similar to that ofcommerce utility system descriptor 90A, except that it acts with respectto service function 90B and service application components 90D. Servicefunction descriptor 90C and service application components 90D may, forexample, also be implemented using object oriented programmingtechniques to help ensure that such descriptor and service applicationcomponents are modular and reusable, as well as abstracting thespecifics of how actions requested of service function 90B are actuallycarried out and/or implemented. In this example, the service applicationcomponents 90D implement most of the capabilities of the servicefunction 90B by carrying out steps of, or subfunctions of, the servicefunction 90B.

FIG. 17A shows an example overall Commerce Utility System 90architecture. The overall architecture shown in this example is anobject oriented system in which the overall Commerce Utility System 90is a single object, that is in turn comprised of reusable servicefunction 90B objects. These service function 90B objects are comprisedof reusable service application components (objects) 90D. Any or all ofthese objects may make use of the services provided by a commerceutility support service layer 90-4, as described in more detail below.The preferred embodiment Commerce Utility System architecture 90 shownis built upon the Rights Operating System 90-1 described in detail inthe Ginter et al. patent specification (see FIG. 12 of Ginter, et al.,for example). A set of service functions 90B comprise “applications”executed by the Rights Operating System 90-1. There can be any number ofservice functions 90B.

The object oriented design of the Commerce Utility System 90architecture shown in FIG. 17A has several desirable attributes. Forexample, a Commerce Utility System 90 may easily add, remove and/orreplace service functions 90B to alter, extend and/or enhance itscapabilities. Similarly, the architecture allows the addition, removal,and/or replacement of service application components 90D to permitsimilar flexibility in the case of service functions. Furthermore,object oriented design significantly improves the ease and efficiency ofreuse of service functions and/or service application components indifferent Commerce Utility Systems 90, or different service functions90B (as shown in FIG. 17A); respectively.

The application layer, which is comprised of service function layer 90-2and service application component layer 90-3 (comprising components90D_(A)), may be, if desired, supported by a commerce utility supportservices layer 90-4. Commerce utility support services layer 90-4 mayprovide increased efficiency for large numbers of transactions. Suchcommerce utility support services 90-4 may include, for example:

-   -   session management,    -   fault tolerance,    -   memory management,    -   load balancing,    -   database bridging, and    -   other commerce utility support services.

In this example, service functions 90B are component based, and may makeuse of the reusable and component based service application components90D. The service application components 90D typically perform steps of,or subfunctions of, service functions 90B. Each service applicationcomponent 90D can have either or both of two parts:

-   -   a component 90B_(a) that need not execute within protected        processing environment 154; and    -   a secure component 90B_(b) that needs to execute within        protected processing environment 154.        In this example architecture, there may be a correspondence        between components 90D_(a) and components 90D_(b). For example,        at least one component 90D_(a) may correspond with at least one        secure component 90D_(b). There may be a one-to-one        correspondence between components 90D_(a) and components 90D_(b)        (as indicated in FIG. 17A by common geometric shapes). In the        preferred embodiment, this separation of function permits, when        required and/or desired, the interaction between secure        processes operating in PPE 154 and service application        components 90D. By using this architecture, it is easier and        more efficient to create service functions that implement        capabilities requiring both application level support as well as        secure processing.

For example, some administrative and/or support functions forperformance by commerce utility systems 90 may involve use of bothapplication level database functions as well as information protected bya protected processing environment (“PPE”) 154 in the preferredembodiment. A specific example of this might be the records of paymentby a user of a financial clearinghouse 200. If the operator of such afinancial clearinghouse 200 chose to keep payment history information inan application level database, but needed information protected by PPE154 in order to accurately determine the current account status of acustomer, implementing a service application component 90D_(A) thatcoordinated the information in the application level database withinformation protected by PPE 154 and processed by service applicationcomponent 90D_(B) into a single object may significantly simplify thetask of using this information in the context of a given servicefunction 90B (e.g. a decision to extend additional credit). Furthermore,this example service application component may be reusable in otherservice functions 90B.

In another example, service application component 90D_(A) might serveprincipally as an application level interface object to a correspondingPPE 154 object 90D_(B). For example, if a notary service function 90Brequires the application of a digital signature, a service applicationcomponent 90D_(A) might principally provide an interface that transportsinformation to, and receives information from, a corresponding serviceapplication component 90D_(B) that performs essentially all of theactual work of creating and applying a digital signature. In addition,the application level service component 90D_(A) might provide additionalexception handling, protocol conversion, or other functions designed tohelp integrate capabilities more easily or in a different manner thanoriginally designed for a service function 90B.

FIG. 17D-1 shows an example correspondence between service functions 90Band general types of useful example commerce utility systems 90. Exampleservice functions 90B (“Audit”, “Maintaining Records”, . . . ) are shownhorizontally. These example service functions 90B may be useful forimplementing commerce utility system 90 example types (“FinancialClearinghouse”, “Usage Clearinghouse”, . . . ) written vertically in therow of boxes along the top of the diagram. The FIG. 17D-1 diagram is notexhaustive additional useful commerce utility system types are possibleand additional service functions 90B are also possible. Indeed, thearchitecture of Commerce Utility System 90 ensures that both types andservice functions 90B are extensible as business models or other factorschange.

Although certain business needs and models may tend to inspire the useof certain combinations and collections of important service functionsin almost any implementation, the Commerce Utility System 90architecture is inherently flexible—allowing the implementer to freelymix and combine a variety of different service functions depending upontheir needs. For example, it is useful to provide a Commerce UtilitySystem 90 that functions as a “financial clearinghouse 200”—providingpayment processing, communications, database management, and otherrelated service functions. The Commerce Utility System architecture canprovide such a “financial clearinghouse”—and is also inherently muchmore generalized and generalizable. For example, a particular CommerceUtility System 90 implementation of a “financial clearinghouse” couldalso combine “non-financial” service functions with financial servicefunctions. The particular functions or sets of functions that arerealized in any given Commerce Utility System 90 implementation dependupon the individual needs of the implementer—as dictated for example bybusiness model(s) or functions.

FIG. 17D-2 shows, for example, how the overall functionality of anexample “financial clearinghouse” commerce utility system 200 can beconstructed from example service functions 90B. In this example, theservice functions 90B surrounded by darker lines are included within thecommerce utility system descriptor 90 a shown in FIG. 17B. FIG. 17D-2shows an example usage clearinghouse commerce utility system 300constructed based on a different subset of service functions 90Bsurrounded by dark lines (shown in FIG. 17D-1). Comparing FIGS. 17D-2and 17D-3, one can see that some service functions 90B (for example,“audit,” “status notification,” “event database management,” etc.) maybe reused for both financial and usage clearing operations. Acombination financial and usage clearinghouse commerce utility system 90might use the union of the service functions 90B surrounded by darklines in FIG. 17D-2 and the service functions 90B surrounded by darklines in FIG. 17D-3. More, less and/or different functionality can beprovided for a particular commerce utility system 90 simply by providingand invoking more, less and/or different service functions 90B.

Distributing Commerce Utility System 90

The secure application components 90-3 described above may, in thepreferred embodiment, include or comprise reciprocal control structuresand associated rules and methods shown in FIGS. 41A-41D and 48 of theGinter et al. patent application. These reciprocal control structurescan be used to interlink different or the same control sets operating onthe same or different Commerce Utility Systems 90 or other electronicappliances 100. Hence, each actor can have one or more reciprocalrelationships with every other actor—with Commerce Utility System 90involved in some role in some of the various actions.

FIGS. 17E-1 through 17E-4 show different examples of interaction modelsCommerce Utility System 90 may use to interact with an ongoingtransaction or process based in part on these reciprocal controlstructures:

-   -   FIG. 17E-1 shows an event intermediation model in which a        Commerce Utility System 90 receives an event notification 748        from a secure entity (e.g., a first protected processing        environment) and generates an event 758 which triggers        activities of another (and/or the same) secure entity (e.g., a        second and/or the first protected processing environment).    -   FIG. 17E-2 shows a different Commerce Utility System interaction        model in which the first secure entity provides event        notification 748 to both a Commerce Utility System 90 and        another secure entity to perform a step, but the second entity        awaits receipt of an authorization from Commerce Utility System        90 to proceed before it actually performs the next step in the        process.    -   FIG. 17E-3 shows a notification model in which Commerce Utility        System 90 is more of a passive bystander, receiving event        notifications 748 for purposes of secure auditing but otherwise        not interacting directly with the ongoing process or transaction        unless needed to resolve exceptions (e.g., an error condition).    -   FIG. 17E-4 shows a prior authorization model in which the        Commerce Utility System 90 must issue a notification 748′ to one        secure entity in response to receipt of an event notification        748 from that entity before that entity may pass the event        notification 748 along to the next secure entity to perform the        next step in a overall process or transaction.

The various Commerce Utility System 90 interaction models shown in FIGS.17E-1 through 17E-4 are not exhaustive or mutually exclusive—any giventransaction or process may include some or all of these in differentcombinations based upon business models or other requirements.

As mentioned above, the present inventions provide techniques fordistributing the operation of a particular service function 90-2 orservice application component 90-3 throughout a system 50 ornetwork—including for example to electronic appliances of individualconsumers 95. FIG. 17F shows an example of a control set 188 that can beused to control a remotely located protected processing environment (forexample, a consumer's electronic appliance) to perform a “local” portionof a clearing operation. A Commerce Utility System 90 could deliver thiscontrol set 188 to a consumer's electronic appliance, to anotherCommerce Utility System 90, or to some other electronic appliance (e.g.,one that is part of a communicating infrastructure). The CommerceUtility System 90 can, for example, delegate part of its clearingauthority (implemented, for example, as one or more service functions90-2, each including one or more service application components 90-3) toa process that can be performed within the protected processingenvironment 154 of a user's electronic appliance.

The FIG. 17F example is a method 850 (e.g., meter, billing, or budget)whose AUDIT event 852(1) is processed by an audit method 854. Theexample meter method 850, for example, might have:

-   -   a USE event 852(2) (e.g., “click” the meter),    -   an INITIALIZE event 852(1) (e.g., prepare the meter for use),    -   a RESET event 852(3) (e.g., restore the meter to a known good        state after an error condition),    -   an AUDIT event 852(4) (e.g., gather up records generated during        USE events, as well as a copy of the current UDE value, and        arrange for shipment to the auditor(s)),    -   a READ USE RECORD event 852(5) (e.g., return a copy of the        requested use record),    -   a READ UDE event 852(6) (e.g., return a copy of the current        UDE),    -   a READ MDE event 852(7) (e.g. that returns a copy of the        requested MDE), and    -   other miscellaneous events.

The AUDIT event 852(4), in this example, may be linked to an auditmethod 854. In order to access the data in this example, the CommerceUtility System 90 might need permission in the form of access tagsand/or an appropriate PERC control set defining more detailed usagepermissions, and semantic knowledge of the record format written out bythe meter method 850's USE event 852(2). The semantic knowledge couldcome from an out-of-band agreement (e.g., a standard), or through accessto the MDE (or relevant MDE portion) of the meter method 850 thatdescribes the use record format.

The events of audit method 854 would include a USE event 856(2) thatperforms the functions expected by the calling method's event—in thiscase, gathering use records and a copy of the current UDE, and sendingthem off. In this example, let's assume there is an INITIALIZE event856(1) in this method as well. When called, the INITIALIZE event 856(1)would be sent internally, and its associated load module(s) would callback to the READ MDE event 852(7) of the meter method 850 to learn thesemantics of the use records. Then, the USE event 856(2) would be calledand the load module(s) 858(2) associated with processing this eventwould call the appropriate events of the meter method 850 (e.g., READUSE RECORD repeatedly, and READ UDE once). At this point, theexpectations of the calling method have been fulfilled, except foradministrative object packaging and transmission.

In order to implement more distributed clearing functions, the USE event856(2) may do more processing. For example, while reading in the USErecords from the meter, the audit method 854 may implement analysisfunctions (e.g., categorizing the types of objects used, and reducingthe information reported up the clearing chain to a simple count of howmany times various types of content were accessed). Records from contenttypes that are not interesting may be discarded. The detailed recordsthemselves may be discarded after analysis. In another example, the UDEvalues (e.g., how many clicks are recorded) may be compared to thenumber of use records retrieved, and if there is a discrepancy, they canbe reported and/or acted upon locally (e.g., disabling use of theobjects from a given provider until further interaction). In stillanother example, records may have user identity information removed toensure privacy. In a further example, some use records may be processedand analyzed locally (and then discarded), while other detail recordsare saved for later processing.

Once the distributed clearing functions have been performed, theinformation can be packaged up in one or more administrative objects fortransmission up the clearing chain to a centralized location. This mayinvolve a direct report to the provider(s), and/or a report to anotherclearing function, for example. The processed records may be released(for deletion, summary, filing, etc. by the meter method) by the auditmethod 854 when received, processed, transmitted, or on receipt of aconfirmation by the recipients.

In another example using the meter method 850 shown in FIG. 17F, theAUDIT event 854 could be performed “internally” by the meter method 850.In this example, the use records and UDE would be bundled up in one ormore administrative objects for transmission to the auditor(s) by theload module(s) 853 associated with the AUDIT event 854(4) of the metermethod 850. However, rather than transmitting these objects, they couldbe processed locally. To do this, the name services record used by ROS(see Ginter et al. FIGS. 12 and 13) to find the named auditor(s) couldbe redirected back to the local PPE 154. In the PPE 154, a processcontrolled by the Commerce Utility System 90 can be created (based onmethods and/or load modules delivered on their behalf) to perform thelocal clearing functions described above, except using the content ofthe administrative object(s), rather than calls to the meter methodevents. This is more analogous to the function that would be performedat a remote clearing facility in the sense that the operations areperformed on administrative objects and their contents—but theprocessing can instead be done on the local consumer electronicappliance, on a networked appliance.

Distributing support services in this manner provides additionalcapabilities that may not be present or available in a centralizedarchitecture. For example, a rights and permissions clearinghouse coulddelegate a local server within an organization to keep track of requestsand to cache copies of permissions previously requested by theorganization. Such a local rights and permissions clearinghouse couldreduce network traffic and provide a convenient local repository fororganization-specific permissions (e.g., site licenses for computersoftware). The local rights and permissions server could be authorizedby rights holders or a rights and permissioning agency or other rightsdistribution organization to grant licenses on a request basis.

As another example, many secure, largely automated administrative andsupport services may be distributed in whole and/or in part to an atleast occasionally connected appliance—regardless of whether thatappliance is a computer, set top box, personal digital assistant (PDA)digital telephone, intelligent digital television, or any other digitalappliance. Such appliances can use a protected processing environment toensure that the support service is performed securely and reliably, freefrom tampering and other interference (e.g., as described in the Ginter,et al. patent specification).

In another example, one possible VDE content distribution scenarioinvolves content providers performing the initial packaging role,distributors performing the distribution function, users keeping trackof usage records, and clearinghouses processing usage and financialinformation. This is in contrast to a centralized processing model, inwhich all of these functions are performed by a single centralizedparty.

As still another example, efficiency increases can be realized bydistributing clearinghouse functions across individual user machines,local area network (LAN) servers, and/or corporate “gateway” machinesthat bridge the corporate LAN/WAN environment with the outside world,and commercial “backbone” servers.

As another example, a company's computer might be authorized by acentral certificate authority to grant certain kinds of digitalcertificates. For example, the company might be a member of a certaintrade organization. The trade organization's certifying authority mightgive the company a digital certificate attesting to that fact, anddelegate to the company's own computer the certifying authority to issuecertificates attesting to the fact that each of the company's employeesis a member of the trade organization. Similarly, parents may beauthorized to issue digital certificates on behalf of their offspring.

The techniques described above illustrate how the Distributed CommerceUtility, through use of the Commerce Utility System 90 architecture, canbe distributed across multiple Commerce Utility Systems. Furthermore,the service functions 90-2 provided by one or more Commerce UtilitySystems 90 may be decomposed into complete, or even partial, processsteps (e.g., service application components 90-2) that are performed inwhole or in part on other Commerce Utility Systems 90, or any othersystem (including end user systems) selected by the participants in agiven scenario.

Example Commerce Utility System Types

Financial Clearinghouse 200

FIG. 18 shows an example of a Financial Clearinghouse Commerce UtilitySystem 200. “Financial Clearinghouses” support automated, efficientfinancial fulfillment for electronic transactions. For example,financial clearinghouse 200 may collect payment related information anddetails, and efficiently arrange for the transfer of money and othercompensation to ensure that value providers get paid, including theautomated, selective disaggregation of a payment into payment portionsdirected to appropriate value chain participants. Financialclearinghouses 200 may also provide credit, budgets limits, and/orelectronic currency to participant (e.g., end-user) protected processingenvironments, wherein the financial clearinghouse may have distributedsome of its operations to such protected processing environments forsecure, local performance of such operations. The following are someexample financial clearing support functions that can be providedthrough the use of the present inventions:

-   -   Clearing of financial transactions in a secure, efficient,        timely and accurate manner.    -   Providing secure financial clearing on payment mechanisms that        are trusted by, and convenient for value providers and        users/consumers.    -   Assuring payment to rights holders and other value chain        participants (for example, providers who supply value to the        electronic community in some part of the process from creation,        to distribution, to sale, and to delivery) without requiring        them to take on the task of managing a large number of financial        interfaces with widely dispersed customers and/or a variety of        often complex financial services standards and protocols.    -   Allowing content consumers to pay for information goods and        associated services using a variety of different payment        vehicles via a common, trustable interface.    -   Allowing each party involved in a transaction to verify that a        given exchange has occurred as it was mutually intended, and to        preclude repudiation of the transaction by any party.    -   Reconciling accounts at time of purchase or usage reporting        (e.g., transferring funds from a value chain participant account        to one or more provider accounts).    -   Supporting frequent and granular transaction clearing        activities.    -   Providing financial clearing services to all value chain        participants (e.g., buyers, distributors and sellers of digital        content of all kinds as well as buyers, distributors, and        sellers of physical goods and user of other services).    -   Interfacing distributed electronic commerce domains with        existing electronic, paper and/or other payment and/or clearing        services, including but not limited to credit card systems, bank        debit card systems, smart card systems, electronic data        interchange, automatic clearinghouses, digital money, etc.    -   The effecting, by one or more banks and/or other organizations,        of settlement and reconciliation and/or interfacing directly        with entities who may legally perform settlement services.    -   The effecting of the creation of, and assigning of, identifying        labels, numbers, names or other unique identifiers, by one or        more banks and/or other organizations to digital process and/or        digital information creators, information distributions and/or        modifiers, and/or customer and/or other user accounts for funds,        credits and debits.    -   Using secure containers in any step, part, or process of        providing secure financial clearing services.    -   Controlling secure financial clearing processes based, at least        in part, on rules and controls stipulating the distribution of        processes to be performed at each protected processing        environment of a distributed financial clearinghouse systems,        e.g., clearing performed by the user protected processing        environments, web servers, centralized clearing facilities.    -   Efficiently and securely handling conversions from one currency        to another.    -   Enabling payment fulfillment on provision of other consideration        including service fees, product fees and/or any other fees or        charges based at least in part on content, process control,        and/or rights management use. Supporting wide use of micro-fees        and micro-payments at least in part based on content, process        control, and/or other usage transactions, wherein said support        may include the distributed, secure accumulation and/or        processing of micro-transaction activity and the periodic        passing of information related to such activity through a        clearinghouse network for further processing and/or        accumulation.    -   Efficiently measuring and managing micro-payment activity while        minimizing transaction overhead.    -   Minimizing latency in micro-payment transaction handling.    -   Aggregating or “bundling” transactions against local value store        or other payment vehicles (methods).    -   Employing value chain rules and controls and chain of handling        and control for efficiently administrating the disaggregation        (splitting apart) of payments, including the assignment or        transfer to different value chain providers of payments based on        the same or differing electronic control sets controlling usage        and/or other permissions (e.g., securely controlling payment        consequences through the parsing of payment amounts among        various value chain parties as required by rules and controls        before specific payment methods are activated.    -   Reducing (e.g., minimizing) the number of electronic messages        required to support a given set of electronic transactions        through, for example, distributed transaction processing and/or        transaction activity accumulation.    -   Supporting local aggregation (bundling or combining together) of        multiple payments or micro-payments at a value chain        participant's site.    -   Allowing value providers (e.g., value chain participants) to        efficiently check another value chain participant's ability to        pay before providing services or goods (physical and/or        electronic) on credit.    -   Allowing value providers to authorize an appropriate level of        funding for estimated purchase levels on a value chain        participant's preferred payment vehicle, including, for example,        allowing the provision of budgets for credit and/or currency        that can be expended towards all and/or only certain classes of        transactions (e.g., content and/or process control types)        including, for example, budgets for disbursement for expressly        specified categories of expenditures such as only G and PG        movies.    -   Providing verification of the identity of a potential value        chain participant and binding of that identity to the value        chain participant's selected payment vehicle(s).    -   Providing periodic reporting of transaction activity for        clearinghouse reconciliation and recordation purposes.        Performing auditing, billing, payment fulfillment and/or other        consideration and/or other clearing activities.    -   Providing event driven reporting based, for example, on time,        place, depletion of local funds, and/or class of disbursement        activity such as purpose (for business, entertainment, travel,        household expense), family member or other individual or group        identity, category of content or other goods and/or services        acquired, and/or category any of type of disbursement activity    -   Receiving authority from secure chain of handling and control        embodied in electronic control sets.    -   Granting authority and/or providing services to, and/or in        conjunction with, one or more distributed financial        clearinghouses that are some combination of subordinate to,        and/or have peer-to-peer relationships with, one or more of said        clearinghouses.    -   Distributing financial clearing functions across a network or        other system (for example, every consumer or other value chain        participant node can perform distributed financial clearing        services and wherein said participant node may communicate        financial clearing information directly to one or more other        participants) and in accordance with rules and controls and        other VDE techniques as described in the Ginter, et al patent        specification.    -   Granting authority and/or providing services to, or in        conjunction with, one or more financial sub-clearinghouses whose        operations may be located logically and/or physically elsewhere,        such as within a company or government agency and/or within one        or more jurisdictions and/or serving subsets of the overall        business focus area of a senior financial clearinghouse.    -   Distributing and/or otherwise authorizing financial clearing        functions across a system or network, for example, where every        consumer and/or certain or all other value chain participant        nodes can potentially support a distributed usage clearing        service initiating its own, secure financial clearing        transactions and function in the context of the overall        clearinghouse network including clearinghouse interoperation        with one or more other participant, interoperable nodes, and as        elsewhere in this list, all activities employing VDE techniques        as appropriate.    -   Efficiently calculating, collecting, and dispersing sales and        “value added taxes” imposed by at least one jurisdiction.    -   Supporting a web of financial clearinghouses in which one or        more classes (groups) of clearinghouse have interoperable,        peer-to-peer relationships and in which, differing groups may        have differing rights to interoperate with members of other        groups, for example financial clearinghouses on end-user        protected processing environments may have limited rights to        inter-operate with “primary” financial clearinghouses.    -   Supporting a web of clearinghouse protected processing        environments in which such protected processing environments        comprise discreet “banks” or banking protected processing        environments, and where such protected processing environments        can employ VDE capabilities to securely govern and perform        banking functions such as the secure storage (locally and/or        remotely) of notational currency, the right to “lend” stored        currency to end-user and/or other clearinghouse protected        processing environments, the right to launch electronic currency        objects, the right to fulfill payment from local or remote        currency store(s), the ability to receive communications        representing obligations to pay (e.g., electronic bills), the        ability to fulfill such payments, and the ability to operate as        a component banking “branch” of one or more virtual bank(s) (or        banking network(s)) wherein such bank performs many of the roles        currently performed by conventional banks.    -   Supporting the ability for financial clearinghouses to create        electronic currency that is conditionally anonymous and where        such currency may be employed in the fulfillment of payment        obligations and where such currency is treated as authentic        without the requirement that a receiving party connect after        such receipt with a remote banking authority for assessing that        the currency is valid or authorized for use.    -   Supporting the ability for distributed clearinghouse protected        processing environments to operate—in conjunction with one or        more capabilities described above—on portable devices such as        smart cards (e.g., electronic wallets, etc.) where cellular or        land-line communication means (or other transport mechanisms)        support on-line or asynchronous communication of information        related to a current or an plural transactions such as billing        or other audit information regarding commerce activity including        identification, for example, of purchasers, sellers, and/or        distributors, and authorization information, budget information,        credit provision, currency provision, and/or disbursement        information, etc. related to such activity.    -   Supporting the provision of discounts, subsidies and/or coupons        to value chain participants, for example to consumer users, in        exchange for usage data or more finely grained usage data (for        example, ameliorating privacy concerns in some contexts).    -   May be organized hierarchically, peer-to-peer, or in a combined        mode where responsibility for financial clearing may be        distributed in differing fashions for differing commerce models        and/or activities and/or value chains and where certain one or        more parties may be, for example, hierarchically more senior to        other parties in one or more instances and hierarchically a peer        or less senior in one or more other instances.    -   The relationship among participants is programmable and may be        set (and later modified) to represent one or more desired        financial clearing arrangements for given commerce activities,        value chains, or models.    -   Distributing payments to plural parties, including, for example,        taxes to one or more governments (e.g., city, state, and        federal).

FIG. 18 shows an example function oriented diagram for financialclearinghouse 200. In this example, financial clearinghouse 200 ishighly automated, and operates in a trusted, secure domain to provide aprotected processing environment. It efficiently provides financialclearing services to all kinds of electronic commerce chains. It canalso serve as a gateway between the highly secure virtual distributionenvironment (VDE) domain and other domains—providing protocol supportfor the existing infrastructure. The gateway functions can allow thehighly flexible and distributed VDE protected processing environments toexploit the inflexible and centralized, but ubiquitous and trusted,existing financial infrastructure services.

The core functions of financial clearinghouse 200 relate to paymentprocessing 208, payment aggregation 212, payment disaggregation 214, andmicro-payment management 216—since these functions collect money fromcustomers and other value chain participants, and pay money to valuechain service or product providers such as merchants.

In more detail, financial clearinghouse 200 may perform the followingfunctions in this example:

-   -   payment processing 208,    -   credit checks 210,    -   payment aggregation 212,    -   payment disaggregation 214,    -   micro-payment handling 216,    -   event driven reporting 218,    -   reconciliation 220,    -   database maintenance/management 222,    -   replication 224, and    -   propagation 226.

Financial clearinghouse 200 may receive payment information 202,customer information 230, provider information 232, and aggregatedreports and bills 234 from the outside world. It may generate debitorders 236, credit orders 238, statements and reports 204, 240, releasesignals 242, and credit checks and authorizations 244.

Database management 222 and event driven reporting 218 may be used tosecurely provide accurate financial reports to value chain participants.Reconciliation function 220—which is related to both reporting andfinancial management—allows financial clearinghouse 200 to provide morereliable financial management. Replication function 224 and propagationfunction 226 are used by financial clearinghouse 200 to facilitatedistributed processing with other financial clearinghouses 200 and/orother secure or insecure protected processing environments, permittingthe financial clearinghouse to securely share state and updateinformation with other Commerce Utility Systems or other participants.

In the example shown, the payment information 202 (which may arrive inone or more secure containers 152) is the primary input to paymentprocessing block 208. If desired, payment information 202 can alsoinclude some or all of the usage information sent to a usageclearinghouse 300—or it may include different types of usage informationmore relevant to financial auditing and transaction tracking. Thispayment information 202 can arrive in real time or on a delayed (e.g.,periodic or other event-driven) basis.

Financial clearinghouse 200 uses provider information 232 and customerinformation 230 to effect funds transfers between customers andproviders. Financial clearinghouse 200 uses aggregated reports and bills234 to guide the overall payment processing 208 as well as paymentaggregation 212 and payment disaggregation 214. For example, financialclearinghouse 200 may issue debit and credit orders 236, 238 to thirdparty financial parties such as banks, credit card companies, etc., toeffect debiting of consumer accounts and corresponding crediting ofprovider accounts. Financial clearinghouse 200 may issue statements 204and reports 240 for secure auditing and/or informational purposes.Financial clearinghouse 200 may issue credit authorizations 244 afterperforming credit checks 210, thereby extending credit to appropriatevalue chain participants. Such authentication 244 may include aninput/output function, unless they are performed entirely locally (i.e.,an authorization request comes in, and clearinghouse 200 is the sourceof credit and/or credit limit information).

Financial clearinghouse 200 may issue release signals 242 in appropriatecircumstances to allow electronic appliances 100 to stop maintainingand/or keep “pending” financial information after it has beentransferred, analyzed and/or processed by financial clearinghouse 200.In one example, the user appliance 100 may, within business modellimitations, store the financial information even after it is“released,” reduce it to a summary, etc. Of course, it may have alreadydone this with a copy of the data (e.g., if previously allowed to accessit). For example, suppose the local copy of financial usage informationcontains confidential business model information. A property might cost$1.00 to view, and that dollar may be split among several parties.Normally, the user is only aware of the overall bottom line, not thedetails of the split—even though a record may exist locally for each ofthe participants in the transaction.

FIG. 19 shows an example architectural diagram for financialclearinghouse 200. Financial clearinghouse 200 in this example includesa secure communications handler 246, a transaction processor 248, adatabase manager 250, a switch 252, and one or more interface blocks244. This example financial clearinghouse architecture may be based, forexample, on the operating system architecture shown in FIGS. 12 and 13of the Ginter et al. patent specification (general purpose externalservices manager 172 in that example could support settlement serviceinterfaces 254 for example). Secure communications handler 246 allowsfinancial clearinghouse 200 to communicate securely with otherelectronic appliances 100(1) . . . 100(N). Such communications may be byway of secure digital containers 152. It is desirable for most CommerceUtility Systems 90 (including financial clearinghouse 200) to supportboth real time and asynchronous receipt of containers 152. In addition,financial clearinghouse 90 may also support a real time connectionprotocol that does not require containers 152 for simple transactionssuch as making a credit card payment that doesn't have disaggregationrequirements. The advantage to using a real time connection is real timeresults. This may be beneficial in circumstances where users need moremoney or credit because they have run out (rather than simply making areport or receiving a periodic replenishment of a budget that has notbeen exhausted), and also when a provider (e.g., of content or budget)insists on clearing a transaction before allowing whatever activityinitiated the transaction to go forward.

A connection for a real time transaction doesn't always require securecontainers 152, but using containers 152 even in this scenario hasadvantages. For example, containers 152 permit attachment of rules andcontrols to the contents, allowing users to specify how the contents maybe used. In addition, use of containers 152 leverages existingcapabilities in the protected processing environment. Using a techniquesuch as electronic mail to deliver containers 152 (e.g., as attachmentsto SMTP mail messages, or as attachments to any other e-mail protocolthat supports attachments) permits asynchronous processing of contents,thereby allowing Commerce Utility Systems 90 to smooth out their peakprocessing loads. A cost of operating a commercial clearinghouse is thedepreciation expense of the equipment. The amount of equipment isprincipally driven by the peak load requirement. One can expect asignificant variance in load (for example, compare Friday night at 8 pmversus Tuesday morning at 3 am). Smoothing out this function can lead toquite considerable savings in equipment and related costs (electricity,personnel, maintenance, etc.)

Transaction processor 248 may process and analyze received information,and database manager 250 may store received information in a databasefor later analysis and/or for historical analysis (to increase creditlimits, analyze payment histories, etc.) In addition, database manager250 may also store information associated with existing credit limits,addresses for communications (physical and/or electronic), and otheraccount information. For example, the Ginter et al. patent specificationdiscusses budget encumbrances. The database manager 250 may be used tostore information used to track encumbrances as well. There may also besets of security information used to communicate with protectedprocessing environments and/or users employing the protected processingenvironments, and the settlement services. Records associated withcommunications with the settlement services may also be stored there aswell. The database 250 may also be outfitted with various reportingfacilities related to its contents.

Transaction processor 248 and database manager 250 together perform mostof the functions shown in FIG. 18. Switch 252 is used to routeinformation to and from interface blocks 244. Interface blocks 244 areused to communicate with third party settlement services, such as creditcard companies, Automatic Clearing House (ACH) systems for banksettlements, debit card accounts, etc. Optionally, the internalsettlement services provided by a Federal Reserve Bank 256 may be usedin lieu of or in addition to the third party settlement services shownto provide settlement of accounts in accordance with prevailing bankingarrangements and legal requirements. The payment mechanisms used byfinancial clearinghouse 200 may be symmetrical (e.g., tell VISA tocharge consumer A's charge account and credit vendor Y's account) orasymmetrical (e.g., tell VISA to debit consumer A's charge account andprovide the money to the financial clearinghouse which will creditvendor Y's account using some other payment mechanism) as allowed byapplicable financial and banking regulations.

Example Financial Clearing Processes

FIG. 20 shows an example financial clearinghouse process. In thisexample, a provider 164 provides goods, services or content to aconsumer 95. For example, provider 164 may provide one or more digitalproperties 1029 and associated controls 404 within an electronic securecontainer 152. A secure protected processing environment 154 at theconsumer 95 site keeps track of payment, usage and other information,and may provide an audit trail 228 specifying this information. Audittrail 228 may be transmitted from the site of consumer 95 to financialclearinghouse 200 within one or more secure containers 152 b. Audittrail 220 might include, for example, the identification of thereporting electronic appliance 100; the amount of payment; provideridentification; the consumer's desired payment method; the name or otheridentification of the electronic appliance user; and the type(s) oftransaction(s) involved. The time and/or frequency of reporting might bebased on a number of different events such as for example, the time ofday, week, month, year or other time interval; the occurrence of somerelated or unrelated event (e.g., pre-approval for a purchase isrequired, a certain number of purchases have taken place, a localelectronic purse has been exhausted of funds, reporting is necessary forsome other reason, etc.); or a combination of these.

Financial clearinghouse 200 analyzes the audit trail 228, and generatesone or more summary reports 240. Financial clearinghouse 200 may providethe summary report 240 to provider 164 by transmitting it electronicallywithin a secure container 152 c. Financial clearinghouse 200 may alsocoordinate with a financial intermediary 258 and one or more financialprocessors 260 to effect a debiting of a bank or other account owned byconsumer 95 and corresponding crediting of a bank or other account ownedby provider 164.

For example, the financial clearinghouse 200 may receive the auditinformation, disaggregate the transactions (into value chain amounts forcreators, distributors, and others; as well as for tax authorities andother governmental entities), and then calculate an amount due it fromeach of the transaction beneficiaries. Then, if desired or necessary(due to the size of the transactions, per transaction fees, or otherefficiency and/or cost considerations), the transactions may be rolledup into lump sums for each of the parties, and submitted to a financialintermediary 258 (along with appropriate account information) that isresponsible for performing credit card transactions. The financialintermediary 258 (who may also charge a fee or take a percentage) maythen cause transactions to occur at the financial processor 260 suchthat the beneficiaries each receive the appropriate amounts.Alternatively, if the financial clearinghouse 200 has the ability andauthorizations necessary to submit credit card transactions directly tocredit card companies, it may cause the transactions to occur directlywith the financial processor 260 (e.g., Visa).

Financial processor 260 may send a statement 204 to provider 164 (and/orto consumer 95) detailing the financial debits and payments that haveoccurred. It may provide statement 204 within a secure container (notshown) if desired. Financial clearinghouse 200 may receive a portion orpercentage of the debited-funds to compensate it for the financialclearing services it has provided.

FIGS. 20A-20F show an example financial clearing activity using a localelectronic money purse 262 maintained at the consumer's electronicappliance 100. In this example, financial clearinghouse 200 mayinitially provide consumer 100 with electronic money in the form ofelectronic cash by transmitting the electronic cash within one or moresecure containers 152. Financial clearinghouse 200 may automaticallydebit the consumer's bank 206 a or other account to obtain these funds,and may do so at the consumer's request (see FIG. 20A).

The consumer's electronic appliance 100 upon receiving the electronicfunds may deposit them within an electronic cash purse 262 it maintainswithin its protected processing environment 154 (e.g., as an “MDE”described in Ginter et al.) (see FIG. 20B). The customer's electronicappliance 100 may use this locally stored electronic money to pay forgoods and services consumed by the consumer. For example, a publisher 68may provide a work 166, such as a book, film, television program, or thelike, to the consumer's electronic appliance by transmitting it withinone or more secure containers 152 b. The consumer may operate his or herelectronic appliance 100 to open the container and access the work 166,allowing the consumer to use the work in the manner specified by itsassociated electronic controls (see FIG. 20C).

Assuming that the rights owner requires payment in return for usage ofthe work 166, the consumer's electronic appliance 100 may automaticallydebit electronic purse 262 by the amount of payment required (in thiscase $5) (FIG. 20C). Additionally, electronic appliance 100 mayautomatically generate a usage record 264 recording this usage event.Based on time and/or other event occurrence, the consumer's electronicappliance 100 may automatically send an audit trail 264—which maycomprise a package of audit records transmitted at audit time or set ofrelated records stored in the secure database—(or a summary of it toprotect the consumer's privacy)—to financial clearinghouse 200 in theform of one or electronic containers 152 c (see FIG. 20D).

Upon receiving the usage record 262 and successfully storing it withinits own database 250, financial clearinghouse 200 may send a releasesignal 242 within an electronic container 152 d (see FIG. 20D). Thisrelease signal 242 may allow the consumer's electronic appliance 100 todelete the usage record 264 it had previously maintained (see FIG. 20D).

The consumer may use the same or different work 166 again to promptgeneration of an additional usage record 264′ and to decrement theelectronic purse 262 by another usage charge (in this case exhaustingthe purse's contents) (see FIG. 20E). Exhaustion of electronic purse 262may prompt the consumer's electronic appliance 100 to again contactfinancial clearinghouse 200 to request additional funds (see request228′) and to also provide usage record 264′ (both pieces of informationare transmitted within the same electronic container 152 e in thisexample) (see FIG. 20F).

Financial clearinghouse 200 may respond by transmitting additionalelectronic funds (after debiting the consumer's bank or other account),and may also provide another release signal allowing the consumer'selectronic appliance 100 to delete usage record 264′ (see FIG. 20F). Themoney collected may be paid to the rights holders (after any appropriatereductions to compensate Commerce Utility Systems 90).

Payment Disaggregation

FIG. 21 shows an example financial clearing activity involving valuechain “disaggregation.” Financial clearinghouse 200 in this exampleefficiently, reliably and securely supports payment disaggregationwithin a value chain. FIG. 21 shows a content creator, such as anauthor, delivering a work 166 to a publisher 168. The publisherpublishes the work (for example, within an electronic book 166′) anddelivers it to a consumer 95. In this example, the consumer 95 pays $20for his copy of the book 166′. The consumer's payment is “disaggregated”or split up between the author 164 and the publisher 168 based, forexample, upon a contractual agreement. In this example, the publisherreceives four of the consumer's $20 and the author receives the rest.

Disaggregation allows financial clearinghouse 200 to automatically splitup a consumers' payment among any number of different value chainparticipants. This is extremely useful in ensuring that all contributorsto a product or service can reliably and efficiently receivecompensation for their respective contributions.

FIG. 22 shows how financial clearinghouse 200 can support the valuechain disaggregation shown in FIG. 21. In the FIG. 22 electronicexample, the customer 95 may deliver his payment electronically tofinancial clearinghouse 200. This payment may be in the form ofelectronic currency packaged within a secure electronic container 152 a,or it might be in some other form (e.g., reported usage informationcoupled with a preexisting authorization for financial clearinghouse 200to debit the bank account of customer 95).

Financial clearinghouse 200 may distribute appropriate shares of thecustomer's payment to author 164 and publisher 168 in accordance withthe agreement between the author and the publisher. What tells financialclearinghouse 200 who should receive the disaggregated parts of thepayment? In this FIG. 22 example, the work 166 may pass from the author164 to the publisher 168 and from the publisher 168 to customer 95 inelectronic form within one or more secure electronic containers 152. Oneor more electronic control sets 188 may be included within the same ordifferent containers, these control sets being associated with the work166 or other property. Control sets 188 may specify, among other things,the amount of payment customer 95 must supply in order to be able to usethe work 166.

Controls 188 may also specify and control how the customer's paymentwill be disaggregated among the other value chain participants. Forexample, author 164 may specify within controls 188 b the authorprovides, that she is to receive $16 for each copy of work 166 purchasedby an ultimate consumer 95. Because of the secure chain of handling andcontrol provided in accordance with the virtual distribution environment(see the Ginter et al. patent disclosure), author 164 can be confident(to the degree required by the commercial priorities of the author andallowed by the strength of the overall system) that publisher 168,customer 95 and any other consumers or potential users of property 166will be subject to this control 188 b. The publisher 168 may add its owncontrols to the one specified by author 164, the publisher controls 188c providing a $4 mark up (for example) that it will receive for the useof its brand name, distributing and marketing services.

FIG. 22A shows a detailed example of how payment disaggregation can beperformed within the customer's protected processing environment 154using control sets 188 as described in the Ginter et al patentdisclosure. Ginter et al. teaches, in FIG. 48 and associated text, how acontrol set can implement and control an overall metering, billing andbudgeting process within a user's protected processing environment 154.FIG. 22A illustrates payment disaggregation based on one or more controlsets 188 provided to a consumer's protected processing environment 154.Each of the processing blocks shown in FIG. 22A may be in response to auser request (event) to open and access content.

In this particular example, a metering method 275 is designed to pass anevent to billing method 277 whenever the consumer first uses aparticular piece of content (meter event 275 could also or alternativelypass the event along each time the consumer uses the content to providea “pay per view” functionality if desired).

The billing methods 277 include two different billing methods 277 a and277 b in this example. Methods 277 a, 277 b can be independentlydeliverable—for example, the author 164 could deliver billing sub-method277 a, and the publisher 168 could deliver billing sub-method 277 b.Billing method 277 a writes information to a billing trail datastructure specifying how much the author 164 is to be paid ($16 in thisexample). Billing method 277 b writes information to the same ordifferent billing trail data structure specifying how much the publisheris to be paid ($4). Billing methods 277 a, 277 b may each receive theopen event passed along by meter method 275, and may each write billingrecords to the same (or different) billing trail data structure.

In this example, a budget method 279 may be delivered independently ofthe billing methods 277 a, 277 b. Budget method 279 may write records toa budget trail data structure 281 specifying (among other things) thepayment disaggregation arrangement (i.e., the $16/$4 split betweenauthor and publisher) specified by the billing methods 277 a, 277 b. Thebudget trail data structure 281 (which is maintained independently fromthe data structures maintained by billing methods 277 a, 277 b andtherefore cannot be compromised by the author 164 and/or the publisher168) might be sent to a financial clearinghouse 200. The financialclearinghouse 200 would perform payment and debit financial clearing asdescribed above to result in the consumer's account being debited by$20, the author's account being credited by $16 and the publisher'saccount being credited by $4 (thus disaggregating the user's $20 paymentbetween the author 164 and the publisher 168). Meanwhile, the billingtrail data structure could be sent to a usage clearinghouse 300specified by the author 164 and/or the publisher 168. Usageclearinghouse 300 could analyze the billing trail data structure and letauthor 164 and/or publisher 168 know what payments they might expect toreceive from the financial clearinghouse 200.

Thus, in this example, electronic control sets 188 may specify ordefine, among other things: (i) rights available in a particular digitalobject, (ii) the cost of exercising such rights, and (iii) how paymentsfor exercising rights will be divided (disaggregated) amongrightsholders. This ability to define payment disaggregation in advance(before customers' payment methods and arrangements are activated)provides a high degree of efficiency and flexibility—since it can usethe consumers' payment method, for example, to automatically directparts of the consumers' payment to appropriate people who need to becompensated. Since the same electronic appliance 100 that is being usedto exercise the rights is also being used to help direct payments tovarious different value chain participants, a portion of the overallfinancial clearing process is effectively distributed throughout a largenumber of parallel computing resources. Because of the high degree oftrustedness that can be provided by the system disclosed in the Ginteret al. patent specification, for example, rightsholders can release suchcontrol sets 188 into the stream of commerce with an appropriate thattheir payment arrangements will be carried out. Financial clearinghouse200 can help to ensure that such disaggregated payments efficiently andrapidly reach their required destinations.

A protected processing environment 154 at the site of customer 95securely enforces the augmented controls 188 c, requiring total paymentand/or payment authorization from the customer 95 before allowing thecustomer to access work 166. Controls 188 c may also specify whichfinancial clearinghouse 200 is to be used to handle payment processing,and what payment methods are acceptable while still giving customer 95flexibility in terms of choosing a desired payment method. Thecustomer's protected processing environment 154 c may then automaticallysend appropriate payment or payment authorization 190 a to financialclearinghouse 200 for disaggregation in accordance with controls 188a—which may be the same controls (or a subset of those controls relatingto payment disaggregation) specified by the author and/or the publisher.

Because the customer's protected processing environment 154 c generatescontrols 188 a subject to the controls 188 c, 188 b specified by thepublisher and author (see FIG. 22), these payment controls 188 a can betrusted to carry out the payment wishes of the author and the publisherand to reflect the payment dividing agreement between the two of them.The customer's protected processing environment 154 c may send thecustomer's payment or payment authorization 152 a and these paymentcontrols 188 a to financial clearinghouse 200 within one or more secureelectronic containers 152 a.

Financial clearinghouse 200 processes the payment or paymentauthorization 152 a in accordance with controls 188 a, distributingpayment 152 b to the publisher and payment 152 c to the author inaccordance with the payment dividing agreement reached between theauthor and the publisher. Thus, for example, financial clearinghouse 200might send $4 of electronic money to the publisher and $16 of electronicmoney to the author; or it might credit the bank or other accounts ofthe author and publisher in these amounts. Because this entire processtakes place in a secure, trusted virtual distribution environment, eachof the value chain participants can trust that they will in fact receivethe payment they require and the process can be carried on automaticallyand electronically in a very efficient way that flexibly accommodates awide variety of different business models and ad hoc relationships.

FIG. 23 shows a further, somewhat more complex payment disaggregationexample that adds a content distributor or aggregator 170 to the valuechain. In this example, the consumer 95's $20 may now need to be splitthree ways instead of two, with the author 164 still receiving $16, thepublisher receiving only $3 and the content distributor/aggregator 170receiving $1 for his or her efforts. FIG. 24 shows that the same basicarrangement shown in FIG. 22 can be used to accommodate the payment andother interests of this new value chain participant.

FIG. 25 shows a further payment disaggregation example. FIG. 25 showshow disaggregation can be used to compensate Commerce Utility Systems 90for their role in maintaining and managing the value chain. As describedabove, the Distributed Commerce Utility 75 provides very importantservices, such as financial clearing, usage auditing, permissioning,certification, etc. Entire businesses or industries may be based onefficiently and reliably providing these kinds of administrative andsupport services. Commerce Utility Systems need to be compensated fortheir own investments and efforts. One way for them to be compensated isto receive a small part of every transaction—“a piece of the tick.” Thesame payment disaggregation mechanisms described above can also be usedto support such micropayments to Commerce Utility Systems 90.

FIG. 23 shows one example in which the Commerce Utility Systems 90receive 3% (e.g., $0.60 in the example shown) of the value of eachtransaction. Because electronic control sets 188 discussed above can beused to implement such micro-payment capabilities, any desired businessarrangement or objective can be flexibly and efficiently accommodated.

FIG. 26 shows that payment disaggregation can be used to disaggregate orsplit up a single consumer payment into an arbitrary number of differentamounts (even recording amounts in different types of currencies forinternational trading purposes) at a variety of different destinationsand using a variety of different payment mechanisms (e.g., credit cards,bank accounts, electronic money, etc.).

FIGS. 27 and 28 show still additional payment disaggregation examples tofurther illustrate the flexibility in which Distributed Commerce Utility75 can handle these and other arrangements. The FIG. 27 example showsthe customer's payment being split up among the author 164, thepublisher 168, the aggregator 170, a repackager 174 and two additionalauthors 164 a, 164 b supplying additional works incorporated within theelectronic property being provided to the customer. The FIG. 27 exampleis particularly applicable, for example, where the repackager 174 takescontent from several sources on related matters and combines them intomixed source products such as multimedia combinations, “currentawareness” packages, or newsletter-like publications for sale tointerested parties.

For example, repackager 174 might publish a newsletter on contemporarypolitics, and select an essay written by author 164 for publicationalong with two other works written by authors 164 a, 164 b forpublication in the next newsletter issue. Authors 164, 164 a and 164 bmay grant repackager 174 the right to reformat and redistribute thework. Taking advantage of this reformatting right, repackager 174 maycreate the latest issue of the newsletter and distribute it in a secureelectronic container for reading by customer 95. In this example, thesecure electronic container 152 a may contain at least four separately“delivered” sets of business requirements—one for each of the threeworks (as specified by each of author 164, author 164 a and author 164b) and one for the overall newsletter (as specified by repackager 174).Alternatively, the various works and/or the controls applying to themcan be sent and delivered in independent secure containers 152, and/orsome or all of the works and/or controls may be located remotely.

To read the newsletter, customer 95 opens electronic container 152 a.Suppose that the newsletter cost (as set by repackager 174) is $10 perissue. The customer's $10 payment or payment authorization is sent tofinancial clearinghouse 200, which resolves it to give each value chainparticipant compensation (for example, author 164 may get $1, publisher168 may get $1, aggregator 170 may get $0.50, each additional author 164a, 164 b may each get $1 and the repackager 174 may get the rest—all asdirected by the applicable electronic controls. Thus, the repackager canbe compensated for selecting appropriate articles on the topic andcombining them in a single, easy to read publication, and may also bringits own brand name recognition as an indicator of overall quality, andmay itself add unique content of its own creation.

FIG. 28 shows a “superdistribution” example. One key rights holderconcern is copyright infringement from “pass-along” that is, illegalduplication and redistribution. This pass-along problem is serious indigital environments such as the Internet. The virtual distributionenvironment disclosed in the Ginter et al. patent specification and theadministrative and support services arrangements disclosed in thisspecification fundamentally transform pass-along from a clear threat toan important opportunity. Because of the unique, automated, secureelectronic management of value chain rights provided by the virtualdistribution environment in the preferred embodiment, the consumer canbe treated as a trusted member of the value chain. This makes possible asuperdistribution model in which all customers become potentialdistributors. Since revenue from superdistribution incurs only minimalrights holder costs, superdistribution provides large profit potentialsto holders of rights in successful works.

Looking at FIG. 28, assume that customer 95 received a work fromaggregator 170 that she likes so much that she wants to pass it along toseveral friends and colleagues. Assuming that aggregator 170 has grantedcustomer 95 the right to redistribute the work, the customer may simplyand easily be able to send a copy of the work to each of any number ofadditional potential customers 95(1) . . . 95(N). These additionalpeople may know customer 95 and believe that she would not be sendingthem something that was not potentially interesting and of high quality.In addition, the downstream customers may be able to read an abstract orsee extracts of the work (e.g., view a trailer of a film, read the firstchapter of a novel, or the like) without triggering payment.

After reading the abstract or watching the first five minutes of thefilm without cost, suppose six of the downstream customers 95(3)-95(8)agree to pay for the content at an example cost of $3.25 each. Financialclearinghouse 200 may ensure that the author 164, publisher 168 andaggregator 170 each receive an appropriate share of the income (e.g., $7to the author, $7 to the publisher and $8.75 to the aggregator).

Superdistribution makes possible any number of levels of redistribution.For example, suppose that of the six downstream customers 95(3)-95(8),three of them decide to pass the work along to each of six additionalpotential customers—so that eighteen additional people receive a copy.Since the redistributed works have associated control structuresmandating the same payment arrangement, author 164, publisher 168 andaggregator 170 each receive additional payments from each of these newcustomers. The snowballing effect of redistribution can continue in thismanner across any number of consumers for a long time, and candramatically increase revenue with minimal additional cost to the valuechain members.

Payment Aggregation or Bundling

Micro-fees and micropayments may become an important basis for contentusage transactions. For example, a consumer might pay each time sheviews a particular work or uses a certain piece of computer software, orlistens to a certain piece of music. Different payment arrangements canbe flexibly provided so that the consumer might have the option ofpaying a larger initial fee for unlimited usage or smaller micropaymentson a per use basis. In addition, micropayments may be the leastburdensome and most practical way for Commerce Utility Systems 90 to becompensated for their services. The ability to efficiently handlemicropayments is thus very important in terms of supporting and enablingsmall charges.

Traditional financial payment mechanisms, such as credit cards, checksand the like, are unsuited to manage micropayments. These systemstypically have levels of transaction overhead that impose severe burdenson business models based on many purchases below $5 each. For example,if it costs $0.50 to handle a payment transaction, it becomesuneconomical to handle payments for less than some value, perhaps $2each because the cost of handling the payment is such a large portion ofthe transaction value, or even exceeds the payment itself. Hence,traditional financial payment mechanisms favor larger purchases anddisfavor micro-purchases.

FIG. 29 shows how payment aggregation or bundling can be used tocircumvent these concerns by reducing the number of individual financialtransactions that need to be cleared, and/or by reducing the amount ofmessaging required to clear those transactions. The example paymentaggregation shown in FIG. 29 may be performed on the consumer's ownelectronic appliance 100 within a protected processing environment 154;or at a centralized financial clearinghouse 200; or part of it can beperformed at the appliance and part of it performed at the centralizedclearinghouse. This payment aggregation process can aggregate or combinemany small payments together into larger payments—or into a bundle ofsmall payments that can be handled all at once. Such larger paymentsand/or bundles can be reported periodically along with other transactiondata if desired to be reconciled and recorded by Distributed CommerceUtility 75. This ability to aggregate smaller payments has importantbeneficial effects in terms of increasing efficiency, reducing thenumber of individual transactions that need to be cleared, anddecreasing messaging traffic over electronic network 150. Of course,payment aggregation is not necessarily suitable for every transaction(some large, critical or risky transactions may require real timeclearing, for example), but can be used in a large number of routinetransactions to reduce the burdens on Commerce Utility Systems 90 andoverall system 50.

In one variation on this concept, payment aggregation may preserve theamounts of each individual transaction to allow high degree of reportinggranularity but may be used to trigger when reporting occurs (e.g.,after X dollars have been charged, or Y number of transactions haveoccurred) so that many individual transactions can be bundled andtransmitted/processed together. This type of aggregation is useful forreducing the number and frequency of individual messages traveling overelectronic network 150. In such instances, the reporting electronicappliance 100 may report: (i) the sum of the aggregated individualtransactions, or (ii) each of the individual transactions, or (iii)both, or (iv) a combination of the two.

FIG. 29 shows that a consumer may use his or her electronic appliance100 for a number of different activities, such as, for example, readinga novel, watching a video program, obtaining and reviewing researchresults, interacting with and enjoying multimedia presentations, andhome financial management such as checkbook balancing. A per usemicro-payment may be associated with each of these activities. Forexample, the consumer might pay $1 to a publisher A and $1.50 to anauthor A each time the consumer accesses an electronic version of a workwritten by the author and distributed by the publisher. Suppose that theauthor A's works have become so popular that they have been made intofilms. The consumer might pay on a per-use basis to watch one of thesefilms—paying the publisher A $5, the author A $3 and DistributedCommerce Utility 75 $0.50.

Payment aggregators 266 (which may, if desired, operate at theconsumer's site within the protected processing environment 154 providedby the consumer's electronic appliance 100) may aggregate payments tocommon entities, keeping a running total of the amount of money owed topublisher A, the amount of money owed to author A, and the amount ofmoney owed to the Distributed Commerce Utility 75. This running totalcan be incremented each time the consumer triggers an additional paymentevent. The aggregated payment amounts can be periodically or otherwisereported to financial clearinghouse 200 or other Commerce UtilitySystems 90 based on certain time intervals (for example, weekly,monthly, or daily), the occurrence of certain events (for example, theconsumer has exceeded her credit authorization and needs a new one,certain electronic controls have expired, etc.), and/or a hybrid of anyor all of these techniques.

FIG. 30 shows another example of payment aggregation across a number ofconsumer transactions. In this example, payments to the same value chainparticipants and using the same payment method are aggregated togetherto provide totals. This payment aggregation—which may take place at theconsumer's site and/or within a financial clearinghouse—reduces thenumber of overall financial transactions that need to be cleared. Thisincreases efficiency and throughput, and decreases the cost for handlingeach individual consumer transaction.

FIG. 31 shows a still additional payment aggregation example in whichaggregation is performed over transactions of a number of differentconsumers. For example, all transactions using a particular paymentmethod pertaining to a particular provider could be aggregated by afinancial clearinghouse 200. Note that the payment aggregationtechniques shown in FIGS. 29-31 do not necessarily result in loss ofindividual transaction detail. In other words, it is still possible forconsumer electronic appliances 100 to log and report detailedper-transaction information, and for financial clearinghouse 200 and/orthe usage clearinghouse 300 to report detailed usage information on atransaction-by-transaction basis—even though individual transactionpayments are being combined for more efficient payment processing andhandling. This ability to separately handle and process more detailedand granular usage information while at the same time aggregatingpayments can provide a high level of auditing accountability withoutunduly burdening the payment handling mechanism. In some cases, loss ofthe detail records leads to savings on the clearinghouse side. They maybe discarded, but there are advantages to keeping them around on theuser's system and/or in a repository on a Commerce Utility System 90. Ifthere is a billing dispute, for example, the local copy of the detailrecords might serve as useful evidence of what actually occurred—even ifthey were never transmitted to the clearinghouse.

FIG. 32 shows how an example financial clearinghouse 200 might bemodified to include a payment aggregator component 268. Paymentaggregator 268 could be used to aggregate payments incoming from anumber of different consumer electronic appliances 100 or other sources,and provide those aggregated payments to switch 200 for handling viathird party settlement services, for example. Payment aggregator 268could selectively aggregate only certain payments while permitting otherpayments to pass through directly to switch 200 for direct handlingwithout aggregation. Payment aggregation can be based on a number ofdifferent factors. For example, payments can be aggregated based onconsumer, provider, payment method, or a combination of any or all ofthese factors. This aggregation function can be performed entirely or inpart within consumer 95 electronic appliances, or it could be performedcentrally by a centralized clearinghouse 200.

Usage Clearinghouse 300

FIG. 33 shows an example usage clearinghouse Commerce Utility System300. Usage clearinghouses services and functions, in general, maycollect, analyze and “repurpose” detailed, summary, and/or derived usageinformation about the use and/or execution of digital properties and/ordigital processes. This information may include any informationdescriptive of electronic transaction activity. Usage clearinghousesand/or support services may, for example, provide and/or facilitate thefollowing:

-   -   Independent auditing and reporting (which may be presented        independently of financial settlement clearing services);    -   General market researching;    -   Negotiating, implementing, determining, and communicating levels        of privacy and confidentiality with customers and value chain        participants regarding such usage information; and    -   Mass customized marketing and consolidated list selling,        renting, or licensing.

In more detail, usage clearing services in accordance with the presentinventions may provide, for example, any combination of the followingdetailed features and/or functions:

-   -   Compiling, aggregating, using, deriving and/or providing        information descriptive of and/or otherwise relating to, use of        a secure container(s), secure container contents, and/or any        other content and/or any digital control process(es), wherein        such information describes and/or otherwise relates to (a) one        or more users of content and/or processes, (b) one or more        classes of content, control processes, uses of content, and/or        users, and/or (c) one or more recipients of such usage        information.    -   Enabling tracking and reporting of content and/or process        control usage and/or processing information at a highly granular        (e.g., detailed) level.    -   Can collect, aggregate, analyze, summarize, extract, report,        distribute, rent, license, and/or sell usage information.    -   Employing information derived from user exposure to content,        such as advertising, information materials, entertainment,        training materials, business productivity software applications,        etc., and securely supplying at least a portion of such derived        information and/or related to such information, through the use        of VDE mechanisms in the preferred embodiment, to usage        information aggregating and/or analyzing clearinghouses, and        where such clearinghouse securely provides at least a portion of        said usage information, or information derived from said        information to at lest one further clearinghouse and/or value        chain rightsholder; and wherein said clearinghouse may securely        provide differing derived usage information to different other        parties who have a clearinghouse role or other rightsholder        role.    -   Using the “information exhaust” audit trails created by, and/or        derived from, user protected processing environment metering        based on a variety of different techniques (for example those        disclosed in Ginter, et al.).    -   Ability to collect and analyze detailed usage information such        as the number of times a digital property or any portion of a        property has been opened, extracted from, embedded into, or        executed; or the length of time a value chain participant has        used a property such as an interactive game or multimedia        presentation, computer software, or modules or subparts of such        products.    -   Providing a variety of repurposing capabilities for usage        information arriving from consumers or other secure protected        processing environments.    -   Providing independent third party auditing capabilities useful,        for example, for archiving and non-repudiation.    -   Providing information based upon usage auditing, user profiling        and/or market surveying related to use of one or more secure        containers and/or content and/or VDE managed process control in        the preferred embodiment.    -   Providing neutral, trusted third-party audit usage aggregating        and reporting services for rights holders, consumers, and/or        other value chain participants and/or interested parties such as        governmental bodies (information for taxation, law enforcement,        commercial surveying and statistics, etc.).    -   Providing audit opportunities in conjunction with rules and        controls rights and permissions clearing (for example, to        provide a report about which rules and controls permissions and        rights, were exercised, for example by whom, for what, and        when—thereby tying actual user activity back to specific        permissioning and rights and/or rules and controls templates).    -   In the preferred embodiment, providing standardized and custom        reporting and analyzing based upon VDE rules and controls and        produced and delivered in VDE containers to each and/or any one        or more grouping of content creators, content distributors,        industry analysts, trade associations, and any other        stakeholders and value chain participants, and/or any other        interested parties such as government statisticians, regulators,        and/or taxation authorities.    -   Providing any combination of raw, refined, summarized, derived,        and aggregated trusted data reporting for the support of plural        business models within any value chain, and/or across and/or        plural value chains.    -   Distributing, to value chain participants and other parties        within or outside of the electronic community, usage information        separately from and/or with financial settlement clearing        services.    -   Supporting privacy and confidentiality controls fully protecting        rights of all value chain participants interests related to        usage information, including, for example, rights inherent in        VDE chain of handling and control managed business models.    -   Can accommodate privacy concerns, e.g., to not reveal more        information than a consumer or value chain content distributor,        aggregator, repurposer, or other user of an electronic device        that employs, in the preferred embodiment, VDE for secure,        managed content or other process control, authorizes, and, for        example, to inform such authorizing user of what kind of        information is being gathered and/or cleared).    -   Can be trusted to automatically, based at least in part upon        rules and controls, conceal (e.g., encrypt), remove, and/or        transform one or more portions of confidential or proprietary        usage information before further processing of such information        or delivering of such information to any one or more additional        parties, including any further usage clearinghouse(s); thereby        efficiently protecting privacy and confidentiality, including        protecting business trade secret information.    -   Protecting key business model information from prying eyes of        other interested parties, and/or from inadvertent disclosure to        other interested parties and/or to the public, thereby laying        the foundation for truly trusted, commercial networks.    -   Allowing value chain participants, including, for example,        commercial publishers and distributors, and/or consumers and        service and/or product provider organizations, to negotiate the        level of detail of usage information to be conveyed to any given        value chain rightsholders, and wherein such level of detail may        differ according to who the specific receiving parties are and        the specific type and/or subtype of usage information, and where        plural, differing levels of detail for differing portions of        such usage information may be provided to a given usage        information receiver and/or as a given deliverable, and where        such determination of detail is, at least in part, determined by        the rights of a given party at least in part described by VDE        rules and controls information in the preferred embodiment.    -   Allowing consumers and organizations to negotiate the level of        detail of information conveyed to value chain rightsholders.    -   Allowing consumers or other value chain participants—creators,        publishers, distributors, repurposers—to specify and/or        negotiate the level(s) of detail, aggregation and/or anonymity        they desire with respect to usage information regarding their        usage of any given piece of content, content class, specific        process, process class, and/or payment requirement (e.g.,        anonymity, and/or the maintenance of privacy related to some or        all usage details, may require a payment premium to offset the        loss of the value of such information).    -   Allowing information consumers and/or other value chain        participants to customize their “information exhaust” and to set        rules and controls for how they wish to have their usage        information aggregated, or otherwise used—subject to the        competing requirements of rightsholders to receive information        they are entitled to and/or receive information that user and        rightsholders mutually, electronically agree may be provided to        rightsholders. Users and/or one or more rightsholders may have        the right to specify limits upon (e.g., use VDE chain of        handling and control), and/or describe specific usage        information that may or must be to be delivered to, one or more        other rightsholders.    -   Supporting substantial value chain participant control over what        kind of value chain participant usage information is        accumulated, who can access which information and how such        information may be used, how such information is gathered and        processed, and the extent that usage records are tied to a        specific value chain participant or organization.    -   Securely using containers (e.g., using VDE secure containers in        combination with VDE protected processing environment and        communications security capabilities as described in Ginter, et        al.) in any step, part, and/or process of providing secure usage        clearing services.    -   Supporting providing discounts, subsidies and/or coupons to        value chain participants, for example to consumers,        distributors, repurposers, etc., in exchange for usage data or        more finely grained usage data (for example, ameliorating        privacy concerns in some contexts).    -   Generating and supplying to interested parties marketing        research and reporting and consolidated marketing lists (for        targeted mailing, direct sales, and other forms of targeted        marketing. Such materials are generally analogous to independent        magazine and newspaper circulation audits, television audience        ratings reports, and/or commercial targeted marketing lists, but        generating in a highly efficient, distributed, and secure        electronic environment. Such materials, when desired, can be        provided with important new forms of detail (e.g., viewing,        printing, extracting, reusing, electronically saving,        redistributing, etc.), with far greater granularity of        information, and with customized, selective reporting of        materials based upon recipients request, payments, rights,        and/or conflicts of interest with one or more parties who have a        rightsholder's interest in one or more portions of the        underlying information.    -   Using detailed usage information to automatically generate        classification hierarchies, schemes, groups, and/or classes, and        automatically assigning individuals, groups of individuals,        organizations, groups of organizations, digital and/or analog        content or groups of digital and/or analog content to one or        more classes derived from usage data created, collected,        transmitted, in conjunction with at least one secure container        and/or VDE in the preferred embodiment.    -   Supporting advertising and marketing, including supporting        efficient value chain automation of the delivery of such        services, such as automatic targeting or delivery of advertising        and/or other marketing materials to defined sets (e.g., one or        more classes) of consumers, professionals, employees and        companies, in which the sets may be defined by self-selection,        usage data, usage data profiles, or by any other means, and        wherein said sets may be comprised of any one or more value        chain participants (e.g., creators, consumers, distributors,        service providers, web sites, distributed clearinghouses) and        wherein said one or more participants may receive differing,        customized materials, and wherein said receiving participants        may redistribute such materials, if authorized by rules and        controls, and where such participants may receive credit,        coupons, monetary payment, and/or other forms of consideration        for such redistribution, and where such redistribution may take        the form of directing some or all of such received materials to        one or more other parties at least in part based upon        self-selection, usage data, usage data profiles, or by any other        means, and wherein all such processes may be securely managed        (e.g., supported) by internodal VDE chain of handling and        control in the preferred embodiment.    -   Determining payments and/or other consideration due to rights        holders from advertisers based on value chain user exposure to        advertising and at least in part, securely automating the        distribution of portions of such consideration among plural        parties having rightsholder interests related to the content        and/or processes that served as a basis for determining such        consideration.    -   Supporting superior, targeted market segmentation and the design        of more suitable information products and business models based        on direct, more specific and detailed usage data and on customer        and value chain preferences implied, explicit, and/or        automatically derived from usage information, user profiles,        class(s) identification information, etc.    -   Enabling “private” usage clearinghouses (a usage clearinghouse        controlled and/or operated by an organization) to acquire        certain detailed usage information and where such usage        clearinghouses may perform usage analysis and/or other        processing of such information and provide to more centralized        and/or other party clearinghouses and/or other value chain        participants, selectively limited usage information (e.g.,        employing higher level abstractions, summary information,        restrictions on and/or manner of use of usage        information—viewing, printing, saving, redistributing, etc.) for        some or all of such usage information, and where differing        limitations on such usage information may be applied to usage        information derived from usage of differing classes of content,        processes, users, and/or user groups, and where such limitation        capabilities provide important additional protection of the        confidential trade secret information of a company or other        organization by concealing the detailed nature of certain        internal activities, and where there may be a requirement by one        or more other parties in a value chain for payment and/or other        consideration in return for the retention of such detailed usage        information.    -   Enabling organizations to employ private usage data        clearinghouses on corporate Intranets, where such clearinghouses        are integrated with organization document workflow and/or data        warehousing systems.    -   Receiving, with private usage organization (e.g., corporation,        government agency, partnership, or any other organized operating        entity) clearinghouses, usage data from electronic appliances        within the organization, and aggregating records into detailed        reports for internal use, and/or reporting raw, detailed data        for internal use, but only aggregating usage data into summary        reports for external distribution, for example, to rights        holders and/or other value chain participants, and/or one or        more commercial clearinghouses, and where detailed data for        internal use is, in the preferred embodiment, protected as VDE        protected content and access or other use of such content is        limited to specified parties and/or in specified ways based, at        least in part, on the specified parties securely maintained        electronic identity, including, for example, any relevant party        class identification information (e.g., member of a certain        research group, senior executive officer) that has associated        specific information usage privileges.    -   Identifying and supplying, through private usage clearinghouses,        usage related information providing important value usage data        for allocating internal organization resources, directing        research, and other important business purposes.    -   Distributing usage clearing (e.g., for efficiency and/or other        reasons).    -   Distributing usage clearing functions across a network or other        system (for example, every consumer and/or other value chain        participant node is potentially a distributed usage clearing        service at least in part initiating its own, secure usage        clearing, and where such participant node may communicate usage        information directly to one or more other participants) and, in        the preferred embodiment, in accordance with rules and controls        and other VDE techniques as described in the Ginter, et al        patent specification.    -   Hierarchically organizing usage clearinghouses, at least in part        to protect confidentiality at each level in the hierarchy.    -   Granting authority and/or providing services to, or in        conjunction with, one or more distributed usage        sub-clearinghouses whose operations may be located logically        and/or physically elsewhere, such as within a company or        government agency and/or within one or more jurisdictions and/or        serving subsets of the overall business focus area of a senior        usage clearinghouse.    -   Distributing and/or otherwise authorizing usage clearing        functions across a system or network, for example, where every        consumer and/or certain or all other value chain participant        protected processing environment (node) can potentially support        a distributed usage clearing service, and function in the        context of the overall Distributed Commerce Utility.    -   Initiating its own, secure usage clearing transactions directly        with one or more other participants.    -   Providing interoperable operation with one or more other        participant interoperable nodes, using any or all activities        employing Virtual Distribution Environment techniques.    -   Use of clearinghouse to generate usage information used, at        least in part, in the design and/or marketing of products and/or        services related to the products and/or services whose usage is        described by such usage information.    -   May be organized hierarchically, peer-to-peer, or in a combined        mode where responsibility for usage clearing may be distributed        in differing fashions for differing commerce models and/or        activities and/or value chains, and where certain one or more        parties may be, for example, hierarchically more senior to other        parties in one or more instances, and hierarchically a peer or        less senior in one or more other instances, that is, the        relationship among participants is programmable and may be set        (and later modified) to represent one or more desired usage        clearing arrangements for given commerce activities, value        chains, or models.

FIG. 33 shows an example usage clearinghouse 300 from a process point ofview. Usage clearinghouse 300 in this example collects, analyzes andreports on the usage of digital information including, but not limitedto, the usage of digital content. Usage clearinghouse 300 in thisexample performs the following functions:

-   -   Data collection 314,    -   Database management 316,    -   Privacy control 318,    -   Secure auditing 320,    -   Secure reporting 322,    -   Data aggregation 324,    -   Advertising and marketing 326,    -   Usage analysis 328,    -   Replication 330, and    -   Propagation 332.

Communication between usage clearinghouse 300 and other electronicappliances 100 may be by way of secure electronic containers 152, ifdesired. As explained in more detail in connection with financialclearinghouse 200, usage clearinghouse 300 may receive the containers inreal time and/or on an asynchronous receipt basis. In the usageclearinghouse 300, the real time requirement may involve advertising orratings information that loses some or all of its value as a function oftime (e.g., if certain ratings information isn't delivered by aparticular time, it may no longer be relevant in a given marketanalysis; or if advertisers don't receive usage information promptly,they may not be able to respond to customer tastes as effectively).Another case may involve a required delivery of usage information (e.g.,a user on vacation returns to find their required audit date and graceperiod has expired, and their use of certain properties is prohibiteduntil the audit is performed). The asynchronous delivery case wouldstill be preferable in some instances for the same reasons as above inconnection with financial clearinghouse 200.

Data collection function 314 is used to gather usage records 302 inaddition to other types of information, such as, rules and controls 188(which may provide information concerning prices and permissions, forexample), financial statements 240 a, detailed financial reports 240 b,and requests for usage information and/or analysis 336. Data collectionfunction 314 may closely interact with database management function316—resulting in various types of information being stored andmaintained in a usage or other database. Replication and propagationfunctions 330, 332 may be used to synchronize the contents of database316 with other databases (for example, maintained by other usageclearinghouses 300) and/or to provide a distributed database across anumber of secure network protected processing environments or electronicappliances.

Data aggregation 324 and analysis 328 may be used to analyze thecontents of data collected by data collection function 314 and/or storedwithin database 316, enabling usage clearinghouse 300 to performauditing 320 and/or reporting 322. Privacy control 318 may be used inconjunction with reporting function 322 to expose only certaininformation and not others to third parties—thereby protecting theprivacy and confidentiality concerns of consumers for whom usageinformation has been collected. Such pending control 316 can beexpressed in rules associated with the containers in which theinformation arrived.

Reporting function 322 may generate a variety of usage auditing reports304. In addition, usage clearinghouse 300 may be used to provideadvertising and/or marketing support 326 (e.g., to help targetadvertising to demographically appropriate consumers and/or to providemarket and advertising research). Thus, in one example, usageclearinghouse 300 may itself produce and/or distribute advertising 340for viewing by certain targeted consumers or deliver such advertising onbehalf of others. Usage clearinghouse 300 may also generate customizedresponses 342 in response to information requests 336, and can alsogenerate release signals 344 authorizing electronic appliances 100 todelete and/or make “no longer pending” the usage information from localdatabases once associated audit records have been transferred to usageclearinghouse 300 and that transfer has been confirmed. Consumer 95 mayhave an interest in keeping rather than deleting this usage informationafter it has been “released” (e.g., as a matter of curiosity, to monitorothers' behavior (employees, children, etc.))

Usage clearinghouse 300 may generate its own controls 188 b to, forexample, govern how usage information, market analysis information orother information can be used by others. For example, usageclearinghouse 300 might be prepare a proprietary report or analysis thatit provides to third parties in return for compensation. Usageclearinghouse 300 may insist that the people that they provide thereport to do not redistribute the report to anyone else. Usageclearinghouse 300 may enforce this requirement electronically bydelivering the report within one or more electronic containers 152, andassociating electronic controls 188 b with the report. These electroniccontrols 188 b could enforce the “no redistribute” prohibition alongwith other conditions grants and/or limitations (e.g., the report can'tbe modified, the report can be printed and viewed, the report may beexcerpted, etc.).

As mentioned above, usage clearinghouse 300 may also receive financialstatements 240 a and/or detailed financial records 240 b or otherfinancial information—and may generate its own financial statements 240c and/or detailed financial records 240 d. For example, the usageclearinghouse 300 might provide a service to content providers in whichthe usage clearinghouse 300 receives controls 188 a from contentproviders similar to the controls delivered to consumers 95. Based on acomparison of these data, usage clearinghouse 300 might make estimatesas to the amounts of money that the content providers should expect toreceive from financial clearinghouses 200. Usage clearinghouse 300 mightthus provide an independent audit function—serving as a double check onfinancial clearinghouses 200 and providing a fraud detection function(e.g., people submitting usage records that don't have associatedpayments or otherwise incorrect payment amounts may be detected by theusage clearinghouse 300). In addition, the control 188 might representclosed models that content providers are considering implementing, andusage clearinghouse 300 might then offer a service in which it runs acomparison against the usage data it actually collects to build a modelof what the financial results might look like if the content provideractually instituted the proposed model.

FIG. 34 shows an example architecture of usage clearinghouse 300. Inthis example, usage clearinghouse 300 includes a secure communicationsfacility 346, a database and transaction processor 348, an authenticator350, an authorization checker 352 and a data aggregator 354. Usageclearinghouse 300 architecture may be based on the rights operatingsystem architecture shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 of the Ginter et al. patentdisclosure.

Secure communications 346 provides communications with a variety ofelectronic appliances 100 over electronic network 150 via securecontainers 152 in this example. Database and transaction processor 348in this example performs most of the FIG. 33 functions. An authenticator350 may be used to authenticate consumers and/or data, an authorizationchecker 352 may be used to check authorizations, and a data aggregator354 may be used to perform the data aggregation function 324.Authenticator 350 and authorization checker 352 perform authenticationfunctions as described in the Ginter et al. disclosure in connectionwith secure electronic appliances and protected processing environments.

FIG. 35 shows an example overall usage clearing process. In thisexample, a provider 164 provides a digital property to consumers 95(1),95(2), 95(3). For example, provider 164 might provide a novel or otherwork 166 to each of the consumers 95 within electronic containers 152.One or more control sets 188 may be associated with the work 166 (andmay, in one example, be delivered within the same electronic container152 used to deliver the work 166). The controls 188 may specify thatcertain types of usage information must be gathered in the form of anaudit trail, and that the audit trail must be reported based on certaintime and/or other events.

Because container 152 can only be opened within a secure protectedprocessing environment 154 that is part of the virtual distributionenvironment described in the above-referenced Ginter et al. patentdisclosure, provider 164 can be confident that the required audit trailswill be generated and reported as he or she instructs. As consumers 95use the property 166, their electronic appliances 100 automaticallygather and store the usage information in the form of audit trails 302.Then, upon the occurrence of a specified event (e.g., once a month, oncea week, after a certain number of uses, etc.), the consumer electronicappliances 100 send audit trail information 302 within digitalcontainers to usage clearinghouse 300.

Usage clearinghouse 300 collects the audit trail information 302, maystore it in its database 316, and analyzes the audit trail informationto generate a report 304 which it may send to provider 164 within afurther electronic container 152.

Provider 164 automatically receives secure information auditing theamount his or her work has been used and how it has been used, withusage clearinghouse 300 relieving the provider from having to collect oranalyze this detailed usage information. In addition, usageclearinghouse 300 may serve to protect the privacy of consumers 95 byrevealing only summary details authorized by them (for example, how manyconsumers have used the work 166 but not their names or addresses). Thisconfidentiality function would be more difficult or problematic ifprovider 164 attempted to analyzed detailed usage records himself orherself.

FIG. 36 shows a more detailed example usage clearing process involvingtwo different usage clearinghouses 300(1), 300(2). In this example, aprovider 164 delivers a work 166 directly to consumers 95, and also todistributors 168 that may redistribute the work to the consumers. Thecontrols 188 associated with the distributed content 166 may specifythat usage clearinghouse 300(1) is to collect and analyze informationrelating to the usage of the content 166 directly distributed by creator164, and that another usage clearinghouse. 300(2) is to collect andanalyze usage information pertaining to the usage of the work 166 asdistributed by distributor 168. Alternatively, usage clearinghouses300(1), 300(2) may gather different types of usage informationpertaining to the same electronic property 166 (for example, one usageclearinghouse might gather information pertaining to “pay per view”usage, whereas the other usage clearinghouse might gather usageinformation for all one-time purchases). Usage clearinghouses 300(1),300(2) may each issue reports 304 to creator 164 and/or distributor 168and/or consumer 95.

FIG. 37 shows how a usage clearinghouse 300 can be used in combinationwith a financial clearinghouse 200. In this example, a consumer'selectronic appliance 100 may send:

-   -   to usage clearinghouse 300, audit trail information 302        pertaining to usage of electronic content, and    -   to financial clearinghouse 200, usage and payment audit trial        information 228 pertaining to financial clearing activities.

If desired, usage clearinghouse 300 and financial clearinghouse 200 maybe operated by the same business (in this case, both usage and financialaudit trail information could be sent within the same electroniccontainer 152). The usage clearing functions performed by usageclearinghouse 300 may operate in parallel with the financial clearingfunctions performed by financial clearinghouse 200 to support bothdetailed usage reporting and efficient financial clearing.

FIG. 38 shows another example usage clearing operation based on mediaand/or advertising content placement. Consumers 95(1), 95(2), 95(N) maysubscribe to various information distribution services 170A, 170B, . . .. These information distribution services 170 may distribute programmaterial and advertisements (commercial content) produced by contentproviders 164. Consumers 95 consume the distributed content, and theirelectronic appliances 100 gather and report associated usage data tousage clearinghouses 300(1), 300(2) . . . .

The usage clearinghouses 300 may perform demographic analysis on thereceived usage data and, based on this demographic analysis, targetparticular ads for other commercial content 164 to particularinformation services 170. For example, information service 170A mightdistribute program material and commercial content 164 of interest torunners and others with physical fitness interests. Usage clearinghouse300(1) might analyze the usage data provided by the consumers 95 whosubscribe to and view this type of information. Usage clearinghouse300(1) is thus in a unique position to place ads in other commercial andnon-commercial content that might be of interest to the same interestgroup. Similarly, information service 170B might specialize inbroadcasting information of interest to car enthusiasts. Usageclearinghouse 300(2) may gather usage data about the usage of this typeof information—and is thus in a unique and well placed position todistribute and target advertisements, commercial and non-commercialcontent to this group of consumers.

FIG. 39 shows an additional example usage clearing operation that may beperformed by usage clearinghouse 300. In this example, usage clearinghouse 300 may be authorized by rights holders 164 to offer discountsbased on the amount of usage information a consumer 95 is willing todisclose. This can, for example, be done with controls 188 for theproperty by selecting from among control sets and/or entering into anelectronic negotiation (see Ginter et al. FIGS. 76A and B). A rightsholder might premeditate this as a general rule for their property—orgiven rights and permissions clearinghouses 400 could be authorized todeliver these control sets (e.g. based on their special position ascollectors of particular categories of usage information).

As one example, the consumer's electronic appliance might be a personalcomputer, and rights holders 164 who distribute computer software may beinterested in knowing what software programs consumer 95 is using inaddition to the ones they themselves are distributing. Consumer 95, onthe other hand, may not want to reveal this detailed information aboutall of the software programs that are present on his or her personalcomputer.

As another example, digital broadcast rights holders 164 may want toknow about every broadcasted program that consumer 95 watches, whereasthe consumer may not want anyone else to know the kinds of programs heor she is interested in.

Usage clearinghouse 300 can effectively accommodate these countervailinginterests by offering consumer 95 a financial incentive for more fulldisclosure but giving the consumer a choice.

In this example, rights holder 164 distributes electronic content andassociated controls to consumer 95. The controls may specify options forrevealing usage information. The consumer may choose:

-   -   to pay full price and keep all usage information other than that        essential for insuring payment absolutely secret;    -   to allow limited usage disclosure in return for a small discount        on price; or    -   to take advantage of a big discount in return for allowing full        disclosure of usage information.

Some secretive consumers may want the outside world to know as little aspossible about their usage habits and will be willing to pay full priceto protect their privacy. Other consumers may not care what the outsideworld knows about their usage habits, and will want to take advantage oflarge discounts based upon more full disclosure. Any number of suchoption levels may be provided, allowing the consumer to, for example,select precisely what kinds of information are revealed and which onesare kept secret. Because usage data is being collected within a secureprotected processing environment 154 that is part of the consumer'selectronic appliance 100, the consumer can be confident that the usagedata will be securely handled and that unauthorized disclosure will notoccur without his or her consent.

Based, for example, on one or more control sets 188 provided to theconsumers' protected processing environment 154 and/or the consumer'sselection made possible through such control sets, the consumer'sprotected processing environment 154 could reveal no (or minimal) usageinformation, limited usage information or full usage information, tousage clearinghouse 300. Usage clearinghouse 300 can then freely analyzethe limited and full usage information it collects, providing reportsand analysis to rights holders 164 and to other third parties such asmarket researchers, brokers, advertisers, auditors, scientists andothers.

Rights and Permissions Clearinghouse

FIG. 40 shows an example of a rights and permissions clearinghouseCommerce Utility System 400. Rights and Permissions clearinghouseservices may perform any combination of the following overall functions:

-   -   Registering digital objects and associated permissions, prices        and/or other permitted and/or required operations supporting the        execution of consequences for performing and/or failing to        perform such operations;    -   Providing pre-approved permissions on demand in accordance with        specified circumstances and/or other requirements such as        class(s) of permission requester, fulfillment, or ability to        fulfill, payment requirements, etc.;    -   Securely and efficiently performing electronic copyright        registration with the appropriate agency for one or more        countries and/or other jurisdictional units; and    -   Reporting functions.

In more detail, rights and permissions support services in accordancewith these inventions that may include, for example, some or all of thefollowing functions and features:

-   -   Identifying, distributing and verifying specific property rights        and/or other business rules and controls along a digital        electronic value chain.    -   Providing object registry services and rights, prices and/or        other control information for registered objects.    -   Assigning to each digital object at least one identifying number        and/or name in accordance with its own numbering and/or naming        scheme and/or in accordance with one or more numbering and/or        naming schemes defined by one or more other organizations,        associations (e.g., standards consortiums), companies, and/or        agencies (e.g., governmental regulatory bodies).    -   Receiving authority from secure chain of handling and control        embodied in electronic control sets.    -   Securely providing permissions (e.g., rules and controls based        descriptions of permitted operations and associated consequences        such as prices) for digital properties that have been registered        and supporting automated association of such registered        properties with rules and controls sets (e.g., updating of rules        and controls, employing preset templates based upon classes of        properties, etc.), that may be provided, for example, at least        in part remotely and securely downloaded to the registering site        during, or as a result of, such registration.    -   Allowing rights holders in digital content to determine and        flexibly define and securely provide to one or more rights and        permissions clearinghouse ways in which they want their        intellectual property products (for example, VDE protected        digital properties) to be used and not used, and any        consequences of such use and/or misuse.    -   Providing VDE supported capabilities to distribute and manage        rights and business rules (including pre-approved and other        permissions) along an ad hoc electronic value chain, where such        rights and business rules are persistently supported.    -   Providing digital object permissions on demand to people        authorized to use a digital object.    -   Can provide different terms based on different permissions        securely associated with one or more combinations of classes of        users (e.g., different age groups, jurisdictions, business        capabilities, consumers, creators, providers, partners,        government, non-profit organizations, educational organizations,        organization membership, etc.).    -   Providing rights holders with assurances that the terms they set        are being adhered to by a potentially diverse and distributed        value chain participant base.    -   Can provide controls that do not include all possible        permissions and/or distribute further, required and/or desired        permissions upon request on an ad hoc and/or pre-planned basis        according to the requester's rights (class and/or individual),        for example, allowing rights holders to elect to distribute only        the most frequently used permissions associated with a        particular digital property, and allowing appropriate parties to        obtain new permissions in accordance with the rights holder's        model.    -   Refreshing expired permissions upon request and/or upon an        automated recognition of the expiration of such rights through        the use of clearinghouse database mechanisms and the automated        provisioning and/or messaging to provide such permissions and/or        notify, in the preferred embodiment, a VDE value chain        participant of the need to acquire such permissions (notify such        user, for example, before the user is actively attempting to use        associated information and/or electronic control processes and        thereby avoiding user frustration and inefficiency).    -   Using secure containers such as those described in Ginter, et        al., in any step, part, or process of providing secure rights        clearing services.    -   Creating, storing, distributions, and receiving rights and        permissions “templates” allowing rights holders to efficiently        and adequately specify rights, conditions and consequences,        (e.g., compensation) to be associated with operations related to        the use of their digital properties (and/or the use of VDE        process controlled electronic events).    -   Templates can directly correspond to digital control sets        associated with properties, content users, user classes, and/or        other digital information and/or physical or virtual sites        and/or process control for event and event consequence        governance.    -   Templates can be self-executing.    -   Templates can apply to multiple objects/instances.    -   Templates can be delivered independently of any digital objects        they may be associated with.    -   Templates are extensible to anticipate new operations and        scenarios, including, but not limited to new payment methods,        pricing models and pricing levels, and new permissions.    -   Templates can flexibly recognize all kinds of digital rights        including, for example, distribution and transmission and/or        retransmission rights.    -   Templates can flexibly recognize individual identity and/or        class identity rights.    -   Different templates can apply to different content and/or        process control arrangement property types.    -   Plural templates can apply to the same property and/or process        control arrangement.    -   Rights and permissions clearinghouse(s) may maintain superset        templates, permitting value chain participants and/or        hierarchically sub-clearinghouses to modify one or more of such        superset templates to create templates employing a subset and/or        extended set of said one or more superset templates.    -   Templates can be completed in a number of different ways using,        for example, a graphical user interface and/or a rights        management language.    -   Template “applications” can be created and/or modified through        the use of topographical, schematic, directly editable graphical        representation of value chain rules and controls, where such        rules and controls and value chain relationships are represented        through the display of, for example, mixed iconic, positional,        flow diagram, and textual information, and wherein rules and        controls are implemented, for example, through the use of a        rights management language, and wherein, for example, elements        or higher level representation of such elements of the rights        language may directly correspond to graphical representation        components.    -   Multiple value chain participants can contribute to and/or        modify templates and/or contribute and/or modify different        templates applying to the same digital information.    -   Users can select between differing templates applying to the        same digital information, including, for example, digital        information describing and/or governing control processes (e.g.,        event management information) managed through, for example,        secure VDE chain of handling and control.    -   Distributing rights clearing functions across a network or other        system (for example, every consumer and/or other value chain        participant node is potentially a distributed rights clearing        service at least in part initiating its own, secure rights        clearing, and wherein said participant node may communicate        rights information directly to one or more other participant,        interoperable clearing nodes, in the preferred embodiment, all        activities employ VDE techniques as appropriate and as described        in the Ginter, et al. patent specification).    -   Granting authority and/or providing services to, or in        conjunction with, one or more distributed rights        sub-clearinghouses whose operations may be located logically        and/or physically elsewhere, such as within a company or        government agency and/or within one or more jurisdictions and/or        serving subsets of the overall business focus area of a senior        rights clearinghouse distributing and/or otherwise authorizing        rights clearing functions across a system or network, for        example, where every consumer and/or certain or all other value        chain participant nodes can potentially support a distributed        usage clearing service initiating its own, secure rights        clearing transactions and function in the context of the overall        clearinghouse network, including, clearinghouse interoperation        with one or more other participants interoperable nodes, and as        elsewhere in this list, all activities employing, for example,        VDE techniques as appropriate.    -   One or more rights may be automatically provided to a        participant based at least in part upon some aspect of content        and/or process control usage, and such provided one or more        rights may be supplied, for example, as a promotional component        providing coupons in compensation for certain usage (e.g.,        purchasing) profile which may be directly ascertained from usage        information or may be derived from a weighted formula involving        a variety of variables.    -   May be organized hierarchically, peer-to-peer, or in a combined        mode where responsibility for rights clearing may be distributed        in differing fashions for differing commerce models and/or        activities and/or value chains and where certain one or more        parties may be, for example, hierarchically more senior to other        parties in one or more instances and hierarchically a peer or        less senior in one or more other instances, that is the        relationship among participants is programmable and may be set        (and later modified) to represent one or more desired rights        clearing arrangements for given commerce activities, value        chains, or models.

FIG. 40 shows an example rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 from afunctional viewpoint. In this example, rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 may perform some or all of the following four mainfunctions:

-   -   Object registration. Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400        registers digital properties and their associated permissions        and prices.    -   Permissions on demand. In response to queries, rights and        permissions clearinghouse 400 provides permissions 188 together        with associated prices in secure electronic containers 152. The        permissions controls 188 may be provided independently of the        content.    -   Negotiated permissions. In response to queries and requests, the        rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 negotiates permissions        and/or prices on behalf of rightsholders who have delegated this        responsibility to the rights and permissions clearinghouse. The        rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may also be an        intermediary in the negotiations between rightsholders and        rights users. Rightsholders and rights users may negotiate among        themselves and report the results of those negotiations to the        rights and permissions clearinghouse.    -   Reporting. Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 can provide        reports to augment reporting performed by financial        clearinghouses 200 and/or usage clearinghouses 300.

In this example, rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may providesome or all of the following functions:

-   -   Permission creating, updating or changing 408,    -   Permission distribution 410,    -   Database management 412,    -   Template definitions and/or management 414,    -   Negotiating permissions 416,    -   Reporting 417,    -   Replication 418,    -   Registration 419, and    -   Propagation 420.

The rights and permissions clearinghouse 400's primary task of objectregistration is performed by database management 412. In thisconnection, rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may receive controlsets 188 and corresponding object identifications 422 within the same ordifferent electronic containers 152, and then “register” thisinformation in a database 412 for later reference. Rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 may assist rights holders in definingcontrol sets 188 specifying rights and permissions relating to therights holder's electronic properties by providing a template function414. Registration process 419 and database 412 may register control sets188 in addition to objects or properties 166.

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 database function 412 anddistribution function 410 may be used to distribute permissions ondemand in response to requests 402, and may also be responsible for thetask of distributing (via distribution function 410) all permissionsrelating to a particular property. Since permissions and/or prices mayexpire or change, rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 can also beresponsible for updating control sets 188 specifying previously issuedpermissions and/or prices and distributing those updated control sets.

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may also provide a reportingfunction 417, issuing reports 406 pertaining to the permissions and/orprices it has issued or distributed, for example. In this example, theoperation of rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 provides auditopportunities, i.e., a channel through which to attach usageinformation. Such audit operations (which may, for example, be providedby integrating rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 functions withusage clearinghouse 300 functions) could be used to create integratedreports about which permissions were provided and which permissions wereexercised—very valuable information for market research and businessconsequences as well as providing additional accountability torightsholders.

This rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 audit function can beespecially beneficial to preserve confidentiality. For example, aprivate rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may be extended toprovide payment aggregation in order to hide confidential individualtransaction level information from the financial clearinghouse 200. Inanother example, a rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 can issuereports 426 indicating, for example, the number of registered objects indatabase 412 at the beginning of a reporting period, the number of newobjects registered, and some aggregate statistics concerning perhaps thenumbers of kinds of permissions associated with these objects and/oraverage or median prices for certain kinds of objects.

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 can also respond to queries 402with responses 428. A request, for example, may consist of a request forpermissions—which may be automatically granted; or the request may needto be qualified by the rights and permission clearinghouse 400 todetermine whether the requester is qualified to receive the permissions.Qualifications might be established by presentation of one or more validcertificates, which might be simply checked, or stored in the database412 for transmission to providers along with other information aboutpermissions granted by the clearinghouse. In the preferred embodiment,other qualifications might be based on a shared secret (e.g., one ormore tags from a control set 188 held by the requester) known by therequester's PPE 54 and the rights and permissions clearinghouse 400.This shared secret might be used in combination with a certificate, orin cases when qualification requirements are lower or have already beenestablished (e.g., to have received the shared secret in the firstplace), the shared secret alone might be adequate to receive, forexample, a permission that replaces or updates an expired permission.

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 also includes a permissionnegotiation engine 416 that may be used to negotiate permissions 188that haven't been pre-approved by the rights holder. For example,suppose that a consumer 95 wants to exercise a right that is not withindatabase 412. The consumer 95 could request the right. In response,rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 could determine whether therights holder has authorized it to negotiate for the right on behalf ofthe rights holder. If the rights holder has not given the rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 the power to negotiate, the clearinghousecould contact the rights holder and request authorization and/or thepermission itself. If the rights holder has granted the rights andpermission clearinghouse 400 negotiating authority, the clearinghousecould enter into an electronic negotiation (see Ginter et al. FIGS.75A-76B) between the consumer's control set and the rights holder'scontrol set. The resulting negotiated control set could be sent to theconsumer, allowing the consumer to exercise the right.

FIG. 41 shows an example architecture for rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400. In this example, rights and permissions clearinghouse400 includes a secure communications facility 430, a database andtransaction processor 432, an authenticator 434, an authorizationchecker 436, and a registration processor 438. As discussed above, therights and permissions clearinghouse 400 architecture may be based onthe rights operating system architecture shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 of theGinter et al. patent disclosure and described in associated text.

Database and transaction processor 432 performs most of the functionsshown in FIG. 40. Registration processor 438 may perform theregistration function 419. Secure communications facility 430communicates securely over electronic network 150 with consumers 95,authors 164, publishers 168, aggregators 170, repackagers 174, and othervalue chain participants via secure containers 152. Authenticator 434and authorization checker 436 perform authentication functions as theGinter et al. patent disclosure describes in connection with secureelectronic appliances and protected processing environments.

FIG. 42 shows an example rights and permissions clearing process. Inthis example, author 164 sends a work 166 with a control set 188Aincluding controls A to a publisher 168. Publisher 168—in accordancewith a secure chain of handling and control—adds controls B to thecontrol set to form a new control set 188AB. Publisher 168 publishes thework 166 with control set 188AB to consumers 95. Publisher 168 may alsospecify a less often used, but sometimes necessary additional set ofpermissions C within a more comprehensive control set 188ABC (forexample, controls C may allow journalists to excerpt certain parts ofwork 166 for specific purposes).

Publisher 168 may register control set 188ABC (and, if desired, alsocontrol set 188AB and control set 188A) with rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400. The publisher 168 may also include additional“controls over controls,” or “permissions for permissions” “D” (e.g.,distribution controls described in connection with FIGS. 79-85 of theGinter et al. patent disclosure) along with controls 188ABC. Theseadditional “D” controls may specify the circumstances under which rightsA, B and/or C may be granted (qualification of credentials, frequency ofreissue, number of controls for a given user, etc.).

Consumer 95 (or any other provider, such as an aggregator, repackager,author, or another publisher) may request a copy of any of these variouscontrol sets registered with rights and permissions clearinghouse 400.For example, if the consumer 95 is a journalist who uses the work 166 inaccordance with control set 188AB and decides she wants to excerpt thework for certain purposes, she may request the control super set 188ABCthat publisher 168 previously registered with rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400. As another example, a consumer 95 in Germany may havereceived the control set 188 intended for U.S. distribution, and mayneed to request a different control set accommodating the European legaland monetary environment. Additionally, a rightsholder may modifypreviously distributed controls at a later date to add new rights,provide a “sale,” take away rights, etc.—with rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 being responsible for distributing these new controlsets either on demand.

FIG. 42A shows another example in which consumer 95 may register withthe rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 a control set 188X thatpertains to an object such as a file or software program alreadyreceived by consumer 95. This new control set 188X requests the rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400 to send to consumer 95 a new controlset 188Y for the named object whenever the controls registered for thatobject at the rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 are modified. Therights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may automatically send updatedcontrol set 188Y to all registered users of a particular digitalproperty.

In a different example, publisher 168 might distribute work 166 with avery limited control set 188X allowing the consumer 95 to view only theabstract and specifying rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 as acontact point for obtaining permission to view or otherwise use thecontent as a whole. Consumer 95 could then contact rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 to obtain a more expansive control set188Y allowing additional levels of usage. This provides a high degree ofaccountability and expanding auditing capabilities, since it requiresconsumers 95 to contact rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 inorder to actually use a previously distributed property. Similarly,rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may provide updated controlsets 188Y to replace expired ones. This mechanism could be used, forexample, to provide a variable discount on a particular item over time(for example, to allow a movie distributor to discount its first runfilm six months after its initial release date without having to decideat time of initial release how much the discount will be).

FIG. 43 shows a further example rights and permissions clearingoperation performed by rights and permissions clearinghouse 400. In thisFIG. 43 example, each of authors 164, publishers 168, aggregators 170,and optionally other additional value chain participants, register theirown control sets 188A, 188B, 188C, respectively, with a rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400—potentially also registering additionalcontrols controlling distribution of their provider controls. Rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 may then distribute a new, combinedcontrol set 188ABC consistent with each of the individual control sets188A, 188B, 188C—relieving any of the value chain participants fromhaving to formulate any control sets other than the one they areparticularly concerned about. In this example, rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 may also have an interface to other organizations(e.g., with a government agency 440, such as a Copyright Office—or withanother type of organization such as professional associations). Rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400 may automatically register copyrightin works and other objects registered with the rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400—reducing or eliminating such burdens from having to beperformed by the rights holders themselves. The copyright registrationinteraction between the rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 and thegovernment agency 440 may, for example, make use of VDE and securecontainers 152.

FIGS. 44A-44E show an additional rights and permissions clearing processthat may be performed using rights and permissions clearinghouse 400. Inthis example, a publisher 168 may provide a property 166 and associatedcontrol set 188 a to a consumer 95 (see FIG. 44A). The consumer may useher electronic appliance 100 and associated protected processingenvironment 154 to attempt to access the property 166 using control set188 a, but may determine that she requires an additional control set 188b in order to access the property the way she wishes. The consumer'selectronic appliance 100 may generate a request 402 to a rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 (see FIG. 44B). In response, the rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400 may distribute the requested control188 b containing the permissions and pricing information requested bythe consumer 95 (see FIG. 44C). The consumer may then use the property166 in accordance with the control set 188 and generate usage/audittrail information 302 based on the consumer's usage (see FIG. 44D). Theconsumer's electronic appliance 100 may report this usage information tousage clearinghouse 300, and may delete and/or release as “pending” theinternally stored usage information once it receives a release signalfrom the appropriate clearinghouse (see FIG. 44E).

Rights Templates

FIGS. 45A and 45B show example rights templates 450, and FIG. 45C showsan example corresponding control set 188. Rights template 450 may beanalogous in some respects to “fill in the blank” forms. Rights holderscan use rights templates 450 to efficiently and effectively define therights associated with a particular digital property. Such templates 450are useful in framing the general purpose capabilities of the virtualdistribution environment technology described in the Ginter et al.patent disclosure in terms that are sensible for a particular contentindustry, provider, content type or the like. This allows a user such asa provider to be presented with a focused menu of resources that beapplicable or useful for a particular purpose.

For example, templates 450 may make some assumptions about the characterof the content or other information being controlled, how it ispartitioned or otherwise organized and/or the attributes thoseorganizational entities have. Templates 450 simplify the process ofdefining permissions, and reduce or eliminate the need for specializedknowledge and substantial investments of time to exploit the underlyingcapabilities of the virtual distribution environment. It may be possiblein this example for a user to avoid using templates 450 altogether andinstead define permissions 188 in terms of a rights management language(for example, a natural or computer-based language)—but a largepercentage of users will prefer the easy-to-use graphics interface thattemplates 450 may provide—and won't mind giving up the additionalflexibility and associated complexities when undertaking the day-to-daybusiness of defining permissions for a large number of different piecesof content.

Example rights template 450 shown in FIG. 45A (which may be appropriatefor text and/or graphics providers for example) defines a number ofdifferent types of usage/actions relevant to a particular digitalproperty, such as, for example, “view title,” “view abstract,”“modify-title,” “redistribute,” “backup,” “view content,” and “printcontent.” Rights template 450 may further provide a “menu” or list ofoptions corresponding to each type of usage. These various options allowthe rights holder to define rights that others may exercise inconnection with the property. For example, the rights may comprise:

-   -   Unconditional permission,    -   Permission conditional on payment,    -   Permission based on content,    -   Unconditional prohibition, and    -   Prohibitions and/or permissions based on other factors.

Rights holders may “fill in” or select between these various options todefine a “rights profile” corresponding to their particular property. Inthis example, rights template 450 may further models and/or levels forrights to be exercised conditional on payment. Such pricing models andlevels may flexibly define a variety of different sorts of businesspricing, such as, for example, one time charges, pay per view, decliningcost, etc. See FIG. 45B for an example of how pricing models and levelsmight be specified using a graphical interface.

Rights template 450 in this example can be self executing and/or can be“translated” or compiled automatically into one or more control sets 188providing the necessary controls for implementing the rights holder'sselections. FIG. 45B, for example, has a “view title” control 188 a thatallows unconditional viewing of the title as specified by the FIG. 45Arights template 450. Similarly, the FIG. 45B example controls 188includes further control set elements 188(2) . . . 188(N) correspondingto other rights and permissions 188 the rights holder has defined basedupon the FIG. 45A rights template 450.

In this example, rights template 450 can be extensible. For example, asnew technology enables and/or creates new operations, rights template450 can be extended to accommodate the new operations while still being“upward compatible” with preexisting rights templates. Different rightstemplates 450 can be used for different types of properties, differentvalue chain participants, etc.—and at the same time, certain rightstemplates might apply to multiple objects or properties, multiple valuechain participants, etc. Some rights templates 450 can be supersets ofother rights templates. For example, an overall rights permissionstemplate 450 could define all of the possible rights that might apply toa particular property or class of properties, and sub-templates could befurther defined to define rights associated with different consumers,classes of consumers, or rights holders. Thus, for example, an authormight use a sub-template that is different from the one used by adistributor. Templates can also be recursive, i.e., they can be used torefer to other templates (and similarly, the control sets they definecan refer to other control sets).

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 might partially fill in rightstemplate 450—or an automatic process could be used (based, for example,on rights holder's pre-existing instructions) for completing and/orduplicating rights templates. Rights holders could use a graphical userinterface to complete rights template 450 (e.g., by displaying a list ofoptions on a computer screen and pointing and clicking with a mousepointing device to fill in the options desired). In another example, arights holder could define his or her preferences using a rightsmanagement language that a computer could automatically compile orotherwise process to fill in rights template 450 and/or constructassociated control set(s) 188.

FIG. 46 shows an example rights and permissions clearing process usingrights template 450. In this example, rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 and/or individual rights holders define rightstemplate 450 (FIG. 46, block 452(1)). The rights are then filled in therights template 450 to define permissions granted and withheld, andassociated pricing models and levels (block 452(2)). The rights holderassociates the permissions defined by the rights template with theobject (e.g., by creating one or more control sets 188 that referenceand/or apply to the property being controlled) (block 452(3)). Therights holder may then convey the permissions (control set 188) with orseparately from the object (block 452(4)). Rights holders may send thesecontrol sets 188 directly to consumers 95 (block 452(5)), and/or theymay sent them to a rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 forregistration and storage in a database (block 452(6)). Rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 may provide such preauthorized permissionsto consumers (block 452(7)) on demand upon receiving consumer requests(block 452(8)).

As described above, providers may control distribution of suchpre-authorized permissions by rights and permission clearinghouse 400 bythe mechanism of providing additional, “distribution controls” directingand/or controlling the distribution process.

Certifying Authority

FIG. 47 shows an example certifying authority Commerce Utility System500. Certifying authorities and services may, in general, create digitaldocuments that “certify,” warrant, and/or attest to some fact. Factsinclude, for example, identification and/or membership in a particularclass, e.g., such as an organization; age group, possession of a certaincredential type; being subject to one or more certain jurisdictions;and/or having a certified one or more rights to use content and/orprocesses for a fixed time period or terminating at a specific time.

In more detail, a certifying authority in accordance with theseinventions may provide any combination of the following advantageousfeatures and functions, for example in the form of certificates:

-   -   Electronically certifying information used with or required by        rules and/or controls such as authenticating, identity, class        membership and/or other attributes of identity and/or context,        and including automatically certifying said information based        upon the source (for example, one or more certified provider        identities) and/or class of said information.    -   Providing trusted verification that a consumer or other value        chain participant is who she says she is and/or is a member of        one or more particular groups, classes and/or organizations.    -   Providing trusted verification that a group of value chain        participants are collectively who they say they are, wherein a        plurality of certificates from different parties are tested as        an aggregate and where such aggregate of certain certificates is        required under certain circumstances to use content and/or        execute one or more control processes.    -   Automatically producing a certificate, representing        authentication of a value chain or value chain portions as a        result of the confluence of a plurality of certain certificates.    -   Anticipating, through the use of rules and controls, allowable        collections of certificates from plural parties that can form a        certificate that virtually represents a specific group of        certified parties and in the presence of certain certificates        identifying two or more anticipated parties and/or parties who        have met a certain criterion—e.g., sufficient transaction        revenue, sufficient credit worthiness, etc.—a new certificate        may be automatically generated and act as a composite        certificate certifying the plural parties collective and        coordinated presence, and wherein said certificate can be        associated with certain rules and controls allowing certain        electronic activities such as usage of content and/or control        processes in, for example, multiparty EDI, content distribution,        trading system, and/or financial transaction systems.    -   Generating one or more certificates at least in part as a result        of rules and controls governance of certificate creation,        wherein such generated one or more certificates are produced,        for example, as a result of secure rules and controls based one        or more instructions after the satisfaction of certain required        criteria such as certain specific activities by each of plural        parties—e.g. provision of one or more certificates and/or        authorizations and/or usage activity and/or credit and/or        payment activity and/or reporting activity and/or VDE supported        electronic agreement activity (including, for example,        electronic negotiation activity).    -   Certifying other support services (e.g., financial        clearinghouses, usage clearinghouses, rights and permissions        clearinghouses, transaction authorities, and other certifying        authorities, etc.)    -   Certifying based on another certificate (e.g., identity) and an        automatic secure database lookup which may be performed locally,        across a distributed database arrangement, or remotely.    -   Providing non-automatic (i.e., at least in part human provided        or assisted) services issuing more fundamental certificates        (e.g., identity certificates) based on physical evidence in        addition to automatic services for issuing dependent        certificates.    -   May use public key cryptography, private key, and/or secure VDE        virtual networks to support, e.g. create, digital certificates.    -   Can issue certificates that support the context for rights usage        in an automatic, trusted, distributed, peer-to-peer secure        electronic environment that supports chain of handling and        control.    -   As with other Distributed Commerce Utility services, supporting        an unlimited variety of different business models and scenarios        through general purpose, reusable, programmable, distributed,        modular architecture.    -   Can issue certificates that support control sets having elements        whose use is dependent on presence and/or absence of specific,        and/or class and/or non-specific, one or more digital        certificates attesting to certain facts and where differing        requirements may coexist regarding the presence or absence of        certificates related to differing issues.    -   Can issue one or more certificates that cooperate with        conditional electronic control sets to grant certain rights only        to certain consumers and/or other value chain participants,        including, for example, consumers.    -   Issuing replacements for expired certificates and supporting        sophisticated time and/or usage and/or other event driven        expiration (including termination) of certificates—for example,        where criteria for such expiration may variety based upon        specific certificates, classes of certificates, specific and/or        classes of users, user nodes, etc.    -   Maintaining and distributing, including selectively distributing        to distributed-nodes revocation list information, based, for        example, upon node distributed profiles and/or rules and        controls.    -   Distributing revocation list information among interoperable,        peer-to-peer networked, Distributed Commerce Utility nodes on a        time based, other event based manner, wherein information is        selectively distributed to certain one or more nodes in        accordance with agreed to revocation information requirements        and/or where revocation information is non-selectively        distributed to certain one or more nodes.    -   Receiving authority from secure chain of handling and control        embodied in electronic control sets.    -   Distributing certificate authority functions across a network or        other system (for example, every consumer node is potentially a        certificate authority with respect to certain kinds of        certificates; parents may be empowered to issue certificates for        their children).    -   Organizing certificate authorities hierarchically, including        allowing automatic verification of some certificate authorities        (that is, their issued certificates and associated        determinations regarding trustedness, appropriateness, etc.)        through reliance on certificates issued by other certificate        authorities at least in part for such purpose.    -   Granting authority and/or providing services to, or in        conjunction with, one or more distributed certificate authority        sub-clearinghouses whose operations may be located logically        and/or physically elsewhere, such as within a company or        government agency and/or within one or more jurisdictions and/or        serving subsets of the overall business focus area of a senior        certificate authority clearinghouse distributing and/or        otherwise authorizing rights clearing functions across a system        or network    -   Every consumer and/or certain or all other value chain        participant nodes can potentially support a distributed        certificate authority clearing service initiating its own,        secure certificates and function in the context of the overall        clearinghouse network, including, clearinghouse interoperation        with one or more other participants interoperable nodes, and as        elsewhere in this list, all activities employing VDE techniques        as appropriate.    -   Providing liability acceptance control (i.e., for insuring        digital certificates based on the amount of liability accepted        by the issuer(s)), and may include securely maintaining        information regarding such liability acceptance and providing        notices to recipients of such certificates regarding the        liability protection afforded by such certificates, and may        further include recipients of such insured certificates        accepting, for example, through explicit VDE managed electronic        acceptance or through implied acceptance by continuing, any        liability above the insured amounts.    -   May be organized hierarchically, peer-to-peer, or in a combined        mode where responsibility for certificate authority activities        may be distributed in differing fashions for differing commerce        models and/or activities and/or value chains and where certain        one or more parties may be, for example, hierarchically more        senior to other parties in one or more instances and        hierarchically a peer or less senior in one or more other        instances, that is the relationship among participants is        programmable and may be set (and later modified) to represent        one or more desired specific certificate authority arrangements        for given commerce activities, value chains, or models.

FIG. 47 shows an example certifying authority 500 from a processviewpoint. In this example, certifying authority 500 creates digitaldocuments called certificates 504 that “certify” some fact, such asidentity or class membership. For example a trusted third partycertifying authority 500 can provide a secure digital assurance that aconsumer is who she claims to be or has certain characteristics,attributes, class memberships, or the like. For example, some attributesmay signify membership in a particular class (e.g., all employees of acertain company), those born before a certain date, those having acertain physical disability, members of the faculty, administration orstudent body of a college, or retired members of the armed forces.

In this example, digital certificates 504 issued by certifying authority500 are used as a conveyor of the context of rights usage andtransaction authorizations. As described in the Ginter et al. patentdisclosure, certificates 504 are particularly powerful in the virtualdistribution environment because they provide contexts for rights usage.For example, class-based certificate use and automated, distributedgovernance of commerce rights may fundamentally enhance the efficiencyof trusted networks. Suppose, for example, that a content publisherwants to charge commercial prices for a scientific journal subscriptionto all those but in higher education and is willing to give college anduniversity students and professors a 20% discount. Digital certificates504 issued by a trusted certifying authority 500 can be used toautomatically provide assurances—within the context of distributedelectronic network—that only people who are truly entitled to thediscount will be able to exercise it (in this example, that only thosecertified as affiliated with an institution of higher education).

In the FIG. 47 example, certifying authority 500 may perform thefollowing overall functions:

-   -   Fact collection and checking 522,    -   Certification generation 524,    -   Maintaining revocation lists 526,    -   Certificate and revocation list distribution 528,    -   Authentication 530,    -   Certificate renewal 532,    -   Authorization 534,    -   Replication 536,    -   Propagation 538, and    -   Archive 554.

Certifying authority 500 may gather evidence 502 as a basis for which toissue digital certificates 504. In this example, evidence 502 mayinclude other digital certificates 504′ (e.g., so that one certificatecan build on another). The fact collection and checking function 522 mayaccept this evidence 502 as well as additional trustedness data 540(e.g., information concerning compromised or previously misusedcertificates) Certificate generation function 524 may generate newdigital certificates 504 based upon this fact collection and checkingprocess 522. Distribution function 528 may then distribute the newdigital certificates 504, and issue bills 542 to compensate a certifyingauthority for undertaking the effort and liability that may beassociated with issuing the certificate.

Certifying authority 500 may also maintain a revocation list 542 basedon trustedness data 540 indicating, for example, certificates that havebeen compromised or that previously certified facts are no longer true(for example, Mr. Smith used to be a Stanford University professor buthas since left the University's employ). The maintained revocation listfunction 526 is important for providing a mechanism to ensure that “bad”certificates cannot continue to be used once they are known to be bad.Certificates 504 issued by certifying authority 500 can expire, and thecertifying authority can (for example, for a fee) renew a previouslyissued certificate by performing certificate renewal function 532. Thecertifying authority 500 may maintain a record or database of thecertificates it has issued, and this database can be distributed—whichcan benefit from replication function 536 and propagation function 538to accurately and efficiently distribute the database across a number ofdifferent locations.

FIG. 48 shows an example architecture for certifying authority 500. Inthis example, certifying authority 500 may include a securecommunications facility 544, an encryption/decryption processor 546, abilling system 548, a key generator 550, a query mechanism 552, and anelectronic archive 554. In this example, secure communications 544 isused to communicate with other electronic appliances 100 and/or otherCommerce Utility Systems 90. Electronic archive 554 stores keys,certificates 504 and other information required to maintain theoperation of certifying authority 500. Encryption/decryption processor546 is used to create digital certificates 504 by using strongcryptographic techniques. Billing system 548 issues bills 542. Querymechanism 552 is used to query electronic archive 554. Key generator 550is used to generate cryptographic keys the certifying authority 500needs for its own operation.

FIG. 49 shows an example certifying authority process. In this example,a publisher may send an electronic secure container 152 to a consumer95. To use certain permissions 188 a in secure container 152, theconsumer 95 may require a certificate from certifying authority 500 thatcertifies as to a particular fact about the consumer (e.g., the consumeris a United States citizen, the consumer is a retired member of thearmed forces, the consumer is over 18 years of age, etc.). The consumermay generate a request 502 to certifying authority 500 for issuance ofan appropriate certificate. Certifying authority may check the evidence502 the consumer 95 provides, or that some third party may provide,and—once the certificate authority 500 is satisfied—issue the consumerthe required digital certificate 504. This digital certificate 504 maybe used not only with the publisher's control set 188 a, but withcontrol sets from other rights holders that require certification of thesame fact and that have agreed to trust certificate authority 500 as anissuer of certificates.

Certifying authority 500 may communicate with consumer 95 using securecontainers 152. It may generate and provide a control set 188 b withcertificate 504. This control set 188 b may control some aspect of usageof the certificate 504 (e.g., it may not be redistributed and/ormodified) and/or to define a chain of handling and control for theissuance of further dependent certificates (e.g., parents give authorityto issue certificates about their offspring).

One certificate authority 500 may be “proxied” to issue certificates onbehalf of another—such as for example in a chain of handling and controldefined by one or more electronic control sets 188. Distributing thecertifying authority 500 across a number of different electronicappliances has certain advantages in terms of efficiency for example.FIG. 50 shows one useful example of this distributed certificateissuance scenario.

FIG. 50 shows that a rightsholder 164 (and/or a rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400) may request (e.g., by issuing electronic controls 188a within a secure container 152 a) a certifying authority 500 to issuedigital certificates 504(1) to accredited institutions of higherlearning such as institution 1060. Control set 188 a may establish thepolicies and procedures necessary to ascertain whether in fact aparticular institution is duly accredited. Based on electronic controls188 a and evidence 502 submitted by the institution 1060, the certifyingauthority 500 may issue a digital certificate 504A attesting to the factof accreditation.

In order to take advantage of certificate 504A, a student, facultymember and/or staff member of institution 1060 may need to provide afurther certificate attesting to the fact that he or she is affiliatedwith institution 1060. Instead of having certifying authority 500 issuea further certificate 504 to each student, faculty member and staffmember of institution 1060, it may be efficient and/or desirable foreach institution 1060 holding a certificate 504A to issue dependentcertificates 504(2) to its own faculty, staff and students. For example,institution 1060 may maintain a current list of all students, facultyand employees. Rather than requesting certifying authority 500 to issuea separate certificate 504(1) to each student, faculty member andemployee of institution 1060, the institution may undertake thisresponsibility itself.

For example, institution 1060 may elect to operate its own, distributedcertifying authority 500A. In one example, certifying authority 500 mayissue electronic controls 188 b (subject to controls 188 a issued byrights holder 164, for example) that delegate, to the institution'scertifying authority 500A, the authority and responsibility to issuedependent certificates 504(2) within certain limits (e.g., attesting toa limited universe of facts such as for example “This person isofficially associated with the institution 1060”). Such dependentcertificates 504(2) could, for example, be copies of certificate 504(1)with an addendum stating that a particular person is associated with theinstitution 1060 and stating a particular expiration date (e.g., the endof the current academic term). The institution's certifying authority500A may then issue such dependent certificates 504(2) to each facultymember, student and staff member on its current roster.

Recipients of certificates 504(2) may need a still further certificate504(1) attesting to their identity. This is because certifying authority500A issues certificates 504(2) attesting to the fact that a certainnamed person is affiliated with institution 1060—not to the fact that aparticular recipient of such a certificate is that person. The recipientmay need to obtain this further “identity” certificate 504(1) from agovernmentally operated certifying authority 500 such as a state orfederal government.

Rightsholder 164 (and/or a rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 notshown) may issue control sets 188 c for digital properties 166 thatgrant discounts or that provide other benefits to those who can providea combination of valid digital certificates 504 attesting to theirmembership in the class “accredited higher education institution.” Eachstudent, faculty member and staff member of the institution 1060 who hasreceived a certificate 504(2) may take advantage of these discounts orother benefits. FIG. 50A illustrates how such different digitalcertificates can be used to support certificate-conditional controls188—that is, control sets whose elements are dependent on the presenceor absence of certificates 504 that attest to certain facts.

In this FIG. 50A example, one or more control sets 188 c include anumber of discrete controls 188(1) . . . 188(N) applying to the samedigital property 166 or group of properties, for example. Control 188(3)may provide additional and/or different rights to all students, facultyand staff members of Stanford University. In the FIG. 50A example,multiple certificates can be used together to provide the requestedcertifications. For example, the certificates 504(1), 504(2), 504A shownin the FIG. 50 example can be used together to allow a particular personto take advantage of a discount offered to students, faculty and staffmembers of accredited institutions of higher learning. For example:

-   -   a certificate 504(1) may attest to the fact that a certain        person John Alexander is who he says he is.    -   another certificate 504A may attest to the fact that Stanford        University is an accredited institute of higher learning,    -   another certificate 504(2) may attest to the fact that John        Alexander is a student at Stanford University for the current        academic semester.

Each of these various certificates 504 can be issued by differentcertifying authorities 500. For example, one certifying authority 500(e.g., operated by a governmental entity) might issue a certificate504(1) certifying the consumer's identity, while another certifyingauthority may issue certificate 504(2) attesting as to student status,and a third certifying authority may issue the certificate attesting tothe fact that Stanford is an accredited University (see FIG. 50).

As an additional example, a control set element 188(1) shown in FIG. 50Amay provide a certain benefit for California residents. Its conditionmay be satisfied by the consumer presenting a digital certificate 504(3)certifying residency (e.g., in combination with the “identity”certificate 504(1)). A still further permission 180(N) shown in FIG. 50Amight be satisfied by presenting a certificate 504(5) indicating U.S.citizenship. Such certificates 504(3), 504(5) that warrant that a givenperson is subject to one or more jurisdictions (for example, a residentof, or doing business in a particular city, state, nation, or otherpolitical unit—and therefore, subject to that unit's sales, income, orother taxes, or subject to certain administrative fees) are particularlyuseful for interstate and/or international commerce transactions. Forexample, a certifying authority 500 might issue a certificate 504 to afinancial clearinghouse 200 in the United Kingdom. This certificate 504could be used in conjunction with control sets 188 distributed byrightsholders and/or a rights and permissions clearinghouse 400specifying that only United Kingdom financial clearinghouses 200 areauthorized to accept payment in pounds sterling. A customer wishing topay in pounds sterling will only be able to complete the paymenttransaction if the financial clearinghouse being used has theappropriate UK certificate. This UK clearinghouse might then payappropriate UK taxes—relieving the provider from the burden of having todetermine which of his or her transactions were subject to UK taxpayments and which were not.

FIG. 50A also shows a further certificate 504(4) certifying that acertain person is married to a certain other person. To use certificate504(4), it may also be necessary to present the first certificate 504(1)certifying identity. Such certificates attesting to relationship betweenindividual people or between people and organizations are useful inallowing, for example, family members to use the certificates of otherfamily members (e.g., a person can obtain a benefit based on his or herspouse's or parents' certified credential(s)).

FIGS. 51-51D show example detailed formats of various digitalcertificates 504. The FIG. 51A digital certificate 504(1) may certifythat a person is who he says he is. This certificate 504(1) mightinclude, for example:

-   -   a field 560(1) stating the person's name,    -   a field 560(2) specifying the person's date of birth,    -   an expiration field 560(3) specifying when the digital        certificate expires,    -   a public key 560(4) corresponding to the person's public key, an        ID code 560(5) (which in this example could be a hash of the        public key field 560(4)), and    -   a check sum field 560(6) providing an error checking ability.

Digital certificate 504(1) is encrypted in this example by thecertifying authority 500 using the certifying authority's private key ofa public key-private key cryptosystem pair, such as RSA or El Gamal. Thecertifying authority 500's corresponding public key can be made public(e.g., by publishing it in several publicly accessible sites on theWorld Wide Web or in another widely distributed context), or it couldremain secret and never be exposed outside of protected processingenvironments 154. In either case, successful decryption of the digitalcertificate 504(1) to reveal the original clear text informationprovides a high degree of assurance that the digital certificate wasissued by certifying authority 500 (presuming that the certifyingauthority's private key has not been compromised).

Expiration field 560(3) is useful because people who skip checks ofrevocation lists have at least some assurance that a certificate is goodif it must be renewed periodically. Expiration date field 560(3)provides an additional safeguard by insuring that certificates do notlast forever—allowing certifying authorities 500 to use differentcryptographic key pairs for example to provide overall integrity andtrustedness of the certification process. Changing the certifyingauthority 500's key pair reduces the incentives for an adversary tobreak a given key, because the amount of information protected by thatkey is limited, and the fraudulent use of a compromised key will onlyhave a limited time of effectiveness. Furthermore, (currently)unexpected advances in mathematics may render some cryptographicalgorithms useless, since they rely on (currently) theoreticallyintractable computations. A built in mechanism for changing thecertifying authority 500's keys allows the impact of such breakdowns tobe limited in duration if new algorithms are used for reissuedcertificates (alternatively, this risk can also be addressed by usingmultiple asymmetric key pairs generated in accordance with differentalgorithms to sign and validate keys, at the cost of additionaldecryption time).

FIGS. 51B, 51C and 51D show additional digital certificate examplescontaining different sorts of information (e.g., professional credentialfield 560(7) in the case of certificate 504(5), address fieldinformation 560(8) in the case of certificate 504(3), and studentcredentials field 504(9) in the case of student certificate 504(2)).These certificates 504(2), 504(3), 504(5) are tied to identitycertificate 504(1) via the common ID field 560(5), and both the identitycertificate and the independent certificate would generally need to bepresented together.

FIG. 51E shows how an example digital certificate issued by onecertifying authority can—in conjunction with a trusted database—be thebasis for another certifying authority to grant another certificate. Onecertifying authority 500A can, for example, validate user identity andcreate the identity certificate 504(1) shown in FIG. 51A. The user cansubmit this identity certificate 504(1) to another certifying authority500B that has a data base 554 a of people and/or organizations who havea particular attribute. For example, certifying authority 500B may beoperated by a professional organization that maintains an internaldatabase 554 a. Certifying authority 500B will trust the contents ofthis internal database 554 a because the certifying authority 500Bmaintains it and keeps it accurate.

By comparing the identity information in the FIG. 51A certificate withthe contents of the trusted database 554 a, certifying authority 500Bcan issue the FIG. 51B certificate without requiring any physicalevidence from the owner of the FIG. 51A certificate. This solves animportant problem of requiring the user to “show up” each time he needsa highly trusted certificate—and also allows the secondcertificate-generating the process to be automated.

FIG. 51E also shows that the certificate 504(2) issued by certifyingauthority 500B may be (along with identity certificate 504(1)) asufficient basis for a further certifying authority 500C to issue afurther certificate 504(3) based on its own lookup in a trusted database554 b.

Another example would be a corporation that has proven its identity tothe Secretary of State in the jurisdiction in which it is organized. Ifthis corporation has passed muster to handle hazardous material it couldsubmit its certificate of identity 504(1) from the Secretary of State(which in this case would comprise certifying authority 500A) to theagency (certifying authority 500B responsible for maintaining thedatabase 554 a of which companies are currently qualified and authorizedto handle hazardous materials. The certifying authority 500B could thenissue a certificate 504(2) attesting to this fact in an entirelyautomated way if desired.

Insert before heading on p 219 Secure Directory Services (FIG. 52 shows)

Certification to Allow Participants to Act as Agents of an Entity

Sometimes, one or more participants in a particular value chain, orhaving a particular relationship with other participants, need to beauthorized to act on behalf of the collection of participants. Forexample, several parties may wish to act based on authorization from thepartnership or joint venture of which they are a member—or allparticipants within a particular value chain may need to act for thevalue chain as a whole. Each of the participants receiving suchauthority from the entity may need authorization from the entity to act.

The present invention provides a mechanism in which digital certificates504 may be used to create a “virtual entity” that can grant anycombination of participants any combination of the same or differentpowers to exercise defined powers under controlled conditions of use.More particularly, a digital certificate grants each participant in avirtual entity the power to act on behalf of the entity—within theconstraints of the conditions of use and further with any consequencesdefined in the conditions of use specified by electronic controlsassociated with the container.

FIG. 51F shows an example electronic container 152 that encases thefollowing information:

-   -   a value 564 that identifies the “virtual entity,”    -   signatures 566(1)-566(N)—one for each member of the entity,    -   other information 568 pertaining to the entity,    -   digital certificates 504(1)-504(N)—one for each member of the        entity, and    -   control information 188 that specifies powers (e.g., rights or        permissions) and “conditions of use.”

Value 564 provides an identifier that uniquely identifies the entity.The “other information” field 568 may provide further informationconcerning the entity (e.g., the name of the entity, the name andaddress of each participant, the expiration date on which the entityceases to exist, and other information). Signatures 566(1)-566(N) arelike signatures on a partnership agreement—each member of the virtualentity affixes his or her “signature” to indicate assent to be a memberof the entity and assent to the conditions being granted to eachparticipant.

Container 152 in this example further includes an electronic control set188 describing conditions under which the power may be exercised.Controls 188 define the power(s) granted to each of theparticipants—including (in this example) conditions or limitations forexercising these powers. Controls 188 may provide the same powers and/orconditions of use for each participant, or they may provide differentpowers and/or conditions of use for each participant.

For example, controls 188 may grant each participant in a virtual entitythe power to act as a certifying authority 500 on behalf of the entity.In this particular example, controls 188 may allow each party of thevirtual entity to make certificates on behalf of the virtualentity—within the constraints of the conditions of use and further withthe consequences defined in the conditions of use specified by controls.As discussed above, the right to grant certificates is only anexample—any type of electronic right(s) or permission(s) could begranted based on any type of electronic condition(s) of use.

FIG. 51G shows one example process for creating the FIG. 51F container152. In this example, the parties to the virtual entity may negotiatecontrol information governing collective action based on, for example,the electronic negotiation techniques shown in FIGS. 75A-76B of theGinter et al. patent specification (FIG. 51G, block 570). The resultingcontrol information 188 specifies “conditions of use” such as the rightsthat may be exercised by each participant in the entity, and limitationson each of those rights (which may be defined on aparticipant-by-participant basis).

The participant initiating issuance of digital container 152 (actually,the participant's protected processing environment 154) may select arandom value for use as entity identifier value 564 (FIG. 51G, block572). The participant's PPE 154 may next create the certificateinformation for the virtual entity by associating the entity identifiervalue 564 with other information 568 (FIG. 51G, block 574). Theparticipant's PPE 154 may next sign the virtual entity certificateinformation to indicate the participant's assent to be a member of thevirtual entity and assents to the conditions of use control information188 (FIG. 51G, block 576).

The participant's PPE 154 may then make electronic container 152, andplace into it the control information 188, the virtual entitycertificate information 564, 566, 568, and the participant's owncertificate 504 specifying a cryptographic key the participant may useto exercise rights (FIG. 51G, block 578). The participant may thendetermine whether any more participants need to be added to the entitycertificate (FIG. 51G, decision block 580). If yes, the container 152may be transmitted (FIG. 51G, block 582) to another participant memberof the virtual entity and accessed and validated by that nextparticipant (FIG. 51G, blocks 584, 586). The next participant maysimilarly sign the virtual entity certificate information by adding hissignature 566(2) to the list—indicating the she also agrees with thecontrols 188 and agrees to join the virtual entity (FIG. 51G, block588). This new information is used to add to and/or replace the entitycertificate information 564, 566, 568 (FIG. 51G, block 590). This nextparticipant also adds their own certificate 504(2) to the container 152(FIG. 51G, block 592).

Steps 580-592 may be repeated until container 152 has been signed byeach participant within the virtual entity (“no” exit to decision block580). The completed container 152 may then be transmitted to allparticipants (FIG. 51G, block 594).

FIG. 51H shows an example process a virtual entity participant may useto exercise powers on behalf the virtual entity based on the controls188 shown in FIG. 51F. The FIG. 51H example process is performed by theparticipant's protected processing environment 154 based on a request.The participant's protected processing environment 154 writes an auditrecord (FIG. 51H, block 594 a) and then evaluates the request using theconditions of use specified by controls 188 (FIG. 51H, block 594 b). Ifthe request is permitted by the controls 188 (“yes” exit to decisionblock 594 c, FIG. 51H), the participant's protected processingenvironment 154 accesses the virtual entity value 564 from container 152(FIG. 51H, block 594 d) and uses the control information 188 associatedwith conditions of use to fulfill the request and perform appropriateconsequences (FIG. 51H, block 594 e). In one example, the participant'sprotected processing environment 154 may act as a certifying authority500 on behalf of the virtual entity by issuing a digital certificate 504in accordance with the conditions of use—digitally signing the digitalcertificate by encrypting the entity identifier value 564 with acryptographic key corresponding to the participant's own certificate 504within container 152, and making the digital certificate part of thenewly issued certificate. The example may then write additional auditinformation 594H reporting on the action it has taken.

If the requested action is not permitted by controls 188 (FIG. 51H, “no”exit to decision block 594 c), the example FIG. 51H process determineswhether the error is critical (decision block 594 f). If the error iscritical (“yes” exit to decision block 594 f), the process may disablefurther use of the information within container 152 (block 594 g),writes additional audit information (block 594 h), and then stops (FIG.51H, block 594 i). If the error is not critical (“no” exit to decisionblock 594 f), the protected processing environment 154 writes additionalaudit information (block 594 h) and may then end this task (FIG. 51H,block 594 i).

The processes and techniques shown in FIGS. 51F-51H have a variety ofdifferent uses. As one example, suppose that a first publisher publishesa derivative work including his own content and content provided by asecond publisher. The two publishers may form a virtual entity thatallows the first publisher to act on behalf of the entity—but only inaccordance with the conditions of use negotiated and agreed upon by bothpartners. For example, the second publisher may be willing to allow thefirst publisher to republish the second publisher's content and to allowexcerpting and anthologizing of that content by consumers 95—but only ifthe consumers present an appropriate certificate 504 issued by thevirtual entity attesting to the fact that the consumer is permitted toexercise that right. For example, only special subscribers havingcertain characteristics may be entitled to receive a certificate 504.The techniques above allow the first publisher to issue certificates 504to subscribers on behalf of the virtual entity comprising both the firstand second publishers. The second publisher can be confidant that thefirst publisher will only issue certificates in accordance with theconditions of use negotiated and agreed by both publishers.

Another example is a manufacturing process comprising multipleparticipants. The conditions of use provided by controls 188 may allowany of the value chain participants in the manufacturing process valuechain to perform certain actions on behalf of the value chain as awhole. For example, a materials manufacturer, a finished goods supplierand the shipping company that transports materials between them may fora virtual entity. This virtual entity may then submit a control set to atransaction authority that describes a process that describes all threeparticipants acting in concert. For example, the control set created inaccordance with the conditions of use applicable to their virtual entitymight permit a unified presentation of materials requirements, finishedappearance and delivery schedule, as one simple example.

In another example, a semiconductor company, a systems integrator, andthree different suppliers of software may form a virtual entitysupporting the semiconductor company's chip design, simulation, anddesign testing applications. In this example, certificates may be issuedto each company comprising this example entity and to particularindividuals within each of the companies. Rules and controls negotiatedamong the companies may specify who has access to which parts of thesoftware applications and associated databases and who may makemodifications to the software and/or data. In this way, thesemiconductor company can authorize access to outside contractors and/orsuppliers and to specific individuals representing those outsidecompanies. These individuals may be authorized just enough access tosolve typical problems and perform system maintenance tasks. Also, theymay be granted additional rights (authorizations) for a limited periodof time in order to resolve specific problems requiring for resolutionaccess to certain executables and/or data not included in their defaultpermissions.

The virtual entity feature of the present invention represents, in part,an extension that builds upon the chain of handling and controltechniques disclosed in Ginter et al. For example, certificates producedin accordance with this aspect of the present invention can usecapabilities of a VDE chain of handling and control to manage a chain ofcertificates.

Secure Directory Services

FIG. 52 shows an example of a secure directory services Commerce UtilitySystem 600. Secure directory services may securely provide electronicand/or other directory information such as names, addresses, publickeys, certificates and the like. Transmittal of such informationsecurely (e.g., through the use of, in the preferred embodiment, theVirtual Distribution Environment) helps prevent eavesdropping, helpsensures confidentiality, and provides significant infrastructure supportby enabling important participant interaction efficiencies.

In more detail, secure directory services provided in accordance withthese inventions may provide the following example advantageous featuresand functions:

-   -   Securely and reliably providing directory information based on a        variety of different parameters, including various        classification information.    -   May securely provide consumer's, content provider's,        clearinghouse's and/or other party's electronic address(es)        and/or other communication pathway(s) based on name, function,        physical location, and/or other attributes.    -   May provide consumer's, content provider's, clearinghouse's        and/or other party's public key(s) and/or certificate(s) based        on, for example, name, function, physical location, and/or other        attributes.    -   Protects, and where appropriate may conceal, identity related        information while efficiently managing and/or automating the        confidential communicating of requests and responses in secure        containers.    -   Using secure containers and rules and controls to guarantee        integrity and non-reputability of content.    -   Receiving authority from secure chain of handling and control        embodied in electronic control sets.    -   Distributing secure directory services functions across a        network or other system (for example, every consumer and/or        other value chain participant node is potentially a distributed        secure directory service initiating its own, secure directory        service transactions directly with one or more other        participants using VDE as described in the Ginter, et al. patent        specification).    -   Granting authority and/or providing services to, or in        conjunction with, one or more distributed secure directory        services sub-clearinghouses whose operations may be located        logically and/or physically elsewhere, such as within a company        or government agency and/or within one or more jurisdictions        and/or serving subsets of the overall business focus area of a        senior directory service authority distributing and/or otherwise        authorizing secure directly service functions across a system or        network.    -   Every consumer and/or certain or all other value chain        participant nodes can potentially support a secure directory        services authority providing naming and related services and        function in the context of the overall naming services network,        including interoperation with one or more other participants        interoperable nodes, and as elsewhere in this list, all        activities employing VDE techniques as appropriate.    -   May be organized hierarchically to delegate responsibility for,        and operation of secure directory services for a subset of the        overall directory based on name, function, physical location,        and/or other attributes.    -   May be organized hierarchically to provide a directory of        directories, for example.    -   May be organized hierarchically, peer-to-peer, or in a combined        mode where responsibility for directory services may be        distributed in differing fashions for differing commerce models        and/or activities and/or value chains and where certain one or        more parties may be, for example, hierarchically more senior to        other parties in one or more instances and hierarchically a peer        or less senior in one or more other instances, that is the        relationship among participants is programmable and may be set        (and later modified) to one or more desired specific directory        service arrangements for given commerce activities, value        chains, and/or models.

FIG. 52 shows an example secure directory services 600 from a processpoint of view. In this example, secure directory services 600 is anarchive that securely keeps track of directory information relating toconsumers, value chain participants and/or electronic appliances, andsecurely provides this information upon qualified demands. In thisexample, secure directory services 600 may provide the followingfunctions:

-   -   Database management 606,    -   Database search/retrieval 608,    -   Database replication 610,    -   Database propagation 612,    -   Authentication 614, and    -   Authorization 616.

Database 606 may be accessed by search and retrieval engine 608 whichtakes consumer-provided input information as a source and uses it toretrieve records that are relevant. For example, secure directoryservices 600 may receive identities 618 of individuals, organizations,services and/or devices; electronic addresses 620; certificate 622;and/or keys 624. This information may be stored in database 606.

In response to requests 602, secure directory services search andretrieval engine 608 may access database 606 to retrieve additionalinformation (for example, the electronic mail address of a certainindividual or organization, the public key of a certain individual, theidentity of a person having a certain electronic mail address, theidentity and address of a person having a certain public key, etc.).

Additionally, secure directory services 600 may return access controls,audit requirements and the like. For example, a user may be required topresent valid credentials (e.g., a certificate 504) to access theinternal email addresses of a corporation. Certain fields of informationknown to the database 606 may not be available to all corners (e.g., theoffice location or a particular employee, their home directory(ies) onthe company's servers, etc.; or a consumer's physical address may beavailable to people that present a certificate 504 issued by theconsumer acting as his own certificate authority 500, but no one else.These controls can be specified in secure containers that carry theinformation to the secure directory service 600.

When the information is provided to requesters, they may be required touse the information only in authorized ways. For example, they may beallowed to use the information to formulate email messages, but notexcerpt a physical address for a mailing list. These restrictions can beenforced by controls 188 b the secure directory services 600 associateswith the information it provides.

As shown in FIG. 53, secure directory services 600 may provide adatabase 606 and search and retrieval engine 608 in addition to a securecommunications facility 626. The architecture of secure directoryservices 600 may be based on FIGS. 12 and 13 of the Ginter et al. patentdisclosure.

FIG. 54 shows an example secure directory service process performed bysecure directory services 600. In this example, a sender 95(1) wants tosend a message to a receiver 95(2). The senders and receivers could beelectronic appliances 100 owned by consumers, clearinghouses, or thelike. Sender 95(1) may send an address request 602 to secure directoryservices 600 providing certain information and requesting otherinformation. In response, secure directory services 600 provide therequested information to sender 95(1)—who may use the information tosend a message to receiver 95(2). In this example, both the addressrequest 602 and the responsive information 604 are contained withinsecure electronic containers 152 in order to maintain theconfidentiality and integrity of the requests and responses. In thisway, for example, outside eavesdroppers cannot tell who sender 95(1)wants to communicate with or what information he or she needs to performthe communications—and the directory responses cannot be “spoofed” todirect the requested messages to another location. In addition, asdiscussed above, directory services 600 can include controls 188 alongwith its responses and/or request or require controls 188 as part of itsinput.

Transaction Authority 700

FIG. 55 shows an example Transaction Authority Commerce Utility System700. These inventions also enable secure “transaction authority”capabilities providing the following overall functions:

-   -   Securely validating, certifying, and/or auditing events        (including, for example, authenticating, and, for example, for        non-repudiation purposes) in an overall multi-event transaction        or chain of handling and control process;    -   Securely storing, validating, certifying, and/or distributing        control sets (including, for example, authenticating, and, for        example, for non-repudiation purposes) for multi-event        transaction or chain of handling and control processes;    -   Issuing requirements for any or all of the transaction and/or        process steps; and    -   If desired, actively participating in the transaction or process        (e.g., through managing, directing, intermediating, arbitrating,        initiating, etc., including participating in models employing        reciprocal control methods and distributed, automated events        for, for example, distributed computing, process management,        EDI, reference to currency, etc.)    -   Can certify steps and/or pathways, including certifying proper        routing for electronic information through transaction authority        telecommunication switches adapted to certify certain        information and wherein certificates certify that a required        route was followed and/or the sending of such electronic        information was pursuant to certain stipulated rules and        controls, for example acquiring certain archiving information        and/or not exceeding budget and/or other limits and/or        restrictions for, for example: numbers of “shipped” information        containers in a given period of time, value of electronic        currency contained within (represented by) a current container        and/or by containers over a certain period of time, financial        amount committed in purchase order, proper ordering authority,        etc.

The transaction authority may simply be a secure, watchful bystander to,and certifier of, the electronic transaction and/or transaction step (ina sequence of overall transaction steps), it may be a secure facilitatorof a secure plural-party electronic transaction, and/or it may activelyand directly participate in the electronic transaction.

In more detail, a transaction authority in accordance with theseinventions may provide the following advantageous features and/orfunctions:

-   -   Securely maintaining and validating event notification        information pertaining to a multi-stage transaction and/or chain        of handling and control process(es).    -   May enforce, through requirements for its certification or        authentication, a sequence of required transaction and/or chain        of handling and control processes steps based on component        representation of elements of a business process, where, for        example, one or more transaction authorities respectively        certify and/or authenticate one or more specific events at one        or more step “locations” in a transaction sequence.    -   May form an overall transaction control set from a number of        discrete sub-control sets contributed, for example, by a number        of different participants.    -   Using reciprocal methods to coordinate required transaction        events, including for example, sequence of events, between value        chain participants.    -   Receiving authority from secure chain of handling and control        embodied in electronic control sets.    -   May intervene to actively manage transactions and/or chain of        handling and control processes.    -   Can coordinate workflow and/or chain of handling and control        processes and/or other business processes.    -   Can provide automatic and efficient management based on a        trusted, secure distributed electronic commerce environment,        including certifying and/or authenticating steps in distributed        proprietary information, EDI, financial transaction, and/or        trading system value chain activities that very substantially        improves security for distributed rights management, wherein        such security can meet or exceed the security available with        centralized, online commerce models.    -   May manage at least a portion of the transactions within and/or        between value chain participants (e.g., organizations,        individual consumers, virtual groupings).    -   May specify and/or monitor, at least in part through the use of        rules and controls, conditions of satisfaction for, and/or        consequences of, atomic transactions.    -   May direct what happens based on error conditions and/or        transaction profile analysis (e.g., through use of an inference        engine and/or expert system).    -   Can provide confidential coordination of security, routing,        prioritizing, and negotiating processes allowing different,        distributed parties to work efficiently together through a        confidential, trusted interface.    -   Providing notarization, validation, certification, and/or        delivery, as appropriate, for secure document and/or process        control.    -   Can certify steps and/or pathways, including certifying proper        routing for electronic information through transaction authority        telecommunication switches adapted to certify certain        information and wherein certificates certify that a proper route        was followed and the sending of such electronic information was        pursuant to certain stipulated rules and controls, for example        not exceeding budget or other limits for: numbers of “shipped”        information containers in a given period of time, value of        electronic currency represented by current container and/or by        containers over a certain period of time, financial amount        committed in purchase order, proper ordering authority, etc.,        are issued to satisfy requirements regarding receiving a proper        such certification or authentication at a node receiving such        routed information.    -   Distributing transaction authority functions across a network or        other system (for example, every consumer and/or other value        chain participant node is potentially a distributed usage        clearing service at least in part initiating its own,        transaction authority functions, and wherein said participant        node may communicate usage information directly to one or more        other participants) and in accordance with rules and controls        and other VDE techniques as described in the Ginter, et al        patent specification.    -   May provide arbitration, mediation and negotiation services,        electronic or otherwise.

FIG. 55 shows a particular example transaction authority 700 from anoverall function viewpoint. Transaction authority 700 provides, amongother things, a secure auditing facility for maintaining the currentstate of an overall transaction or process based upon eventnotifications it receives from the participants in the transaction.

In this specific example, transaction authority 700 performs thefollowing functions:

-   -   Event notification collection 730,    -   Validated event database management 732,    -   Requirement generation 734,    -   Secure authenticated auditing 736,    -   Reporting 738,    -   Notifying 740,    -   Replication 742, and    -   Propagation 744.

In this example, transaction authority 700 receives notifications thatevents have occurred in the form of event notifications 748 which may becarried in one or more secure electronic containers 152. Eventnotification collection process 730 collects these event notifications748 and may store them in a validated event database 732. Transactionauthority 700 may generate additional notifications 748′ based on itsvalidated event database 732, and may also issue responses 750indicating the current status of a transaction or process in response torequests 752 and/or based on other requirements. In addition,transaction authority 700 may generate and output audit records 754indicating the progress and status of transactions or processes basedupon the contents of its validated events database 732 as analyzed byauditing function 736. Transaction authority 700 may also issue reports756 based on its reporting function 738. Validated event database 732may be a distributed event notification database, in which casereplication process 742 and propagation process 744 are used to maintainand update the database in a distributed manner.

Another major function of transaction authority 700 in this example isto issue new or modified event requirements 758 that can be used tocontrol or influence an overall process or transaction. Transactionauthority 700 may receive control set 188, prices and permissions 188′,event flow requirements 760 and/or process routing requirements 762.Both event flow requirements 760 and process routing requirements 762can be specified in one or more control sets. In response to thisinformation and the validated event database 732 contents, transactionauthority 700 may use its requirement generation process 734 to createnew or modified event requirements 758. Transaction authority 700 mayalso create new or modified control sets 188″ and new or modified pricesand/or permissions 188′″. Transaction authority 700 may use financialstatements 764 as an input to its secure auditing function 736.

FIG. 56 shows an example architecture for transaction authority 700. Inthis example, transaction authority 700 (which may be based on the VDErights operating system (“ROS”) architecture shown in Ginter et al.FIGS. 12 and 13) includes a secure communications facility 770, adatabase and transaction processor 772, process control logic 774,routing tables 776, and an adaptive control set database 778 (thesefunctions could be performed by methods at one or more control sites).In addition, transaction authority 700 may also include a documentnotarizer 780 including a seal generator 782, a digital time stampgenerator 784, and a fingerprint/watermark generator 786.

Secure communications facility 770 permits transaction authority 700 tocommunicate in a secure manner over electronic network 150 (for example,via secure electronic containers 152). Database and transactionprocessor 772 performs most of the processes shown in FIG. 55. Adaptivecontrol set database 778 may perform the validated event databasefunction. Routing tables 776 may be used as part of requirementgeneration function 734 to route appropriate messages to appropriateentities.

Process control logic 774 may include an inference engine or expertsystem for use in handling error conditions not fully anticipated orspecified by the event flow requirements 760 and/or process routingrequirements 762. Process control logic 774 might operate based on rulebased principles, fuzzy logic, neural networks, or a combination of someor all of these—or any other method of process control logic. Processcontrol logic 774 determines the next event that is to occur within theoverall transaction or process.

Document notarizer 780 may be used to provide authenticated documentgeneration, for example, to affix digital seals and/or stenographicinformation to written and/or digital documents.

FIG. 57 shows an example transaction authority process. In thissimplified example, transaction authority 700 may be an entity internalto a corporation used to securely audit and direct an overall goodsdelivery process. In this example, a customer 95 issues an order 788 forgoods. This order 788 is received by an order receiving department 704which issues an order event 710 to transaction authority 700. Inresponse to this order event 710, transaction authority 700 may issuerules and/or requirements in the form of one or more electronic controlsets 188 specifying how the order receiving department 704 is to handlethe order. These rules 188 may specify, for example, a sequence of chainand handling that also directs the activities of a fulfillmentdepartment 709A, a warehouse 709B, a transportation company 726, and apayment collection department 709C. The rules 188—which may be passedfrom one department to the other within secure electronic containers152—thus specifies the requirements and overall process flow of thetransaction that is to occur. Each department may then pass the securecontrols 188 along to the next department, with routing being directedby the rules themselves and/or by transaction authority 700. Eachdepartment may also issue event notifications 748 alerting transactionauthority 700 of the current status of the overall process. Transactionauthority 700 may store this status information within its securevalidated event database 732 for auditing purposes and/or to permit thetransaction authority to direct the next step in the process.

Transaction authority 700 can, for example, use the interaction modelsshown in FIGS. 17E-1 through 17E-4 to interaction with an ongoingtransaction or process. One particularly useful scenario for transactionauthority 700 is to manage a process performed by multiple parties, suchas corporations working on a joint venture or other common objective. Inthis type of business scenario, multiple corporations may be workingtoward a common overall goal but may themselves have their ownobjectives internally such as, for example, protecting their ownconfidential trade secret information. Transaction authority 700 can beused as an independent third party mediator/arbitrator to coordinateactivities between the multiple corporations without requiring any ofthe corporations to expose detailed process information to anyone otherthan transaction authority 700.

For example, transaction authority 700 can generate control setsspecifying event flow and/or process routing requirements 758 and/orcontrol sets 188 that mean different things in different contexts. As anexample, a control set that transaction authority 700 issues might causeone corporation to perform one step and another corporation to performanother step—with each corporation never learning the particular step orsequence of steps being performed by the other corporation. Thus,transaction authority 700 can develop control sets 188 that can be usedto provide only partial disclosure between different individual orcorporate actors.

FIGS. 58A and 58B show example steps and processes performed bytransaction authority 700 to perform an “atomic transaction”. In thisexample, transaction authority 700 performs a role that is somewhatanalogous to the coach of a football team. By accepting the skill setand requirements of each individual “player” and linking them togetherinto an overall “game plan,” the transaction authority 700 can involveany number of value chain participants in an overall “atomic”transaction.

In this example, each value chain participant 164(1), . . . 164(N) in aprocess administered by transaction authority 700 could contribute acontrol set 188(1), . . . 188(N) specifying or governing theparticipant's own business requirements, limitations and processes forthe transaction (FIGS. 58A and 58B, block 750). These individual controlsets 188(1), 188(N) specify how each individual participant performs itsown role. Each participant 164(1) . . . 164(N) knows its own role in theoverall transaction, but may have no idea what roles others may play orhave any clear idea how to form a “team” of other participants—and sothese individual control sets 188(1), 188(N) typically describe onlysub-transactions and may not take overall transaction considerationsinto account.

Transaction authority 700 also receives another control set 188Xspecifying how to link the various participants' control sets togetherinto overall transaction processes with requirements and limitations(FIGS. 58A and 58B, block 752). This overall transaction control set188Y specifies how to resolve conflicts between the sub-transactioncontrol sets 188(1), 188(N) provided by the individual participants(this could involve, for example, an electronic negotiation process 798as shown in FIGS. 75A-76A of the Ginter et al. patent disclosure). Thetransaction authority 700 combines the participant's individual controlsets—tying them together with additional logic to create an overalltransaction control superset 188Y (FIGS. 58A and 58B, block 752).Transaction authority stores the resulting control superset 188Y inlocal storage (FIG. 58B, block 754). This overall control supersetcontrols how transaction authority 700 processes events to perform an“atomic” transaction.

Upon receipt of an incoming event requiring processing (FIG. 58B, block756), transaction authority 700 may activate the overall transactioncontrol superset 188Y (FIG. 58B, block 758). The transaction authority700 may then deliver corresponding reciprocal control sets correspondingto portions of the overall transaction control superset 188Y to eachparticipant in the transaction—thereby enabling each participant tocommunicate with the superset (FIG. 58B, block 760). Alternatively, eachparticipant in this example may—at the time it contributes its controlset 188(1), 188(N) to transaction authority 700—maintain a reciprocalcontrol set that can communicate with the control set the participantsent to transaction authority 700.

Transaction authority 700 may then begin monitoring events receivedusing the activated control superset (FIG. 58B, block 762). If theincoming event is not an error condition (“N” exit to FIG. 58B decisionblock 764), then transaction authority 700 determines whether the eventindicates that the atomic transaction is complete (FIG. 58B, block 765).If the atomic transaction is not complete (“N,” exit to FIG. 58B,decision block 765), control returns to block 762 to monitor events. Ifthe atomic transaction is complete (“Y”) exit to decision block 765),the transaction authority 700 determines that the transaction isfinished (FIG. 58B, block 774).

If the incoming event is an error condition (“Y” exit to FIG. 58Bdecision block 764), transaction authority 700 processes the error eventin the control superset 188Y (FIG. 58B, block 766). If the error is notcritical (FIG. 58B, decision block 767, “N” exit), then control returnsto block 762 to wait for the next event notification to arrive.

If the error is critical (FIG. 58B, decision block 767, “Y” exit),transaction authority 700 may call a critical error handing routine(FIG. 58B, block 768). Critical error handling routine 768 may attemptto resolve the error based on the rules within the control superset 188Yand/or on an inference engine 774 or other process control logic. Suchan inference engine or other process control logic 774 may be programmedconcerning the business model of the overall transaction so it hasenough information to select appropriate actions based on errorconditions.

The process shown in FIG. 58B can be nested. For example, thesub-transaction defined by one “participant” may itself be an atomictransaction based on the contributions of a number of participants—allof which are managed by the same or different transaction authority 700.

Security Checkpoint Commerce Utility System

A Commerce Utility System 90 can include service functions that enableit to perform as a “Security Checkpoint System 6000” (see FIG. 58C) thatprovides security, archiving, and non-repudiation services that cancertify and/or authenticate communicated information in certain ways.Security Checkpoint Systems 6000 can:

-   -   provide a distributed, highly efficient, and automated auditing        and archiving layer for electronic commerce interactions, and    -   enhance the depth of security of a distributed security        environment such as VDE and the Distributed Commerce Utility        layer.

Thus, Security Checkpoint System 6000 may perform security and/oradministrative functions. This Commerce Utility System capability takesthe positive benefits of centralized security models (e.g., ability tohave a central authority physically control the processing node) anddeploys these capabilities into a distributed “user space” model thatcan achieve maximum efficiency and flexibility, support secure andmanageable scalability (a principal weakness of centralized systems),and provide the enhanced security benefits of multiple, independent,secure environment layers. The latter capability is particularly adaptedfor highly sensitive communications desiring extra security assurance.These security layers are enabled by the required participation andsecurity processing of one or more independent security checkpointprotected processing environments that reinforces the foundationdistributed security environment.

Information that passes through one or more Security Checkpoint Systems6000 can be certified and/or authenticated to assure an informationrecipient (e.g., a party receiving information in a container) thatcertain communications functions and/or security steps (processes)occurred prior to receiving the information. This certification and/orauthentication can include, for example, certifying or authenticatingproper communication routing through required and/or authorizedprotected processing Security Checkpoint Systems 6000. Such checkpointsmay be, for example, distributed throughout a telecommunicationsnetwork, and “local” to the physical and/or logical location of end-userVDE nodes (see FIG. 58C).

Security Checkpoint Systems 6000 may employ telecommunication switchesadapted to certify and/or authenticate certain information andprocesses. For example, certificates issued by a Security CheckpointSystem 6000 may certify that a required route was followed and that arequired checkpoint examined a communicated secure electronic container,and/or that the sending of such a container or other electronicinformation was performed pursuant to certain stipulated rules andcontrols. For example, such a service can help ensure and/or certifyand/or authenticate, that certain budgets, other limits, and/orrestrictions are not exceeded, and/or certain other requirements aremet.

For example, a Security Checkpoint System 6000 may help ensurerequirements (including that limits or other restrictions are notexceeded) for: the number of “shipped” information containers in a givenperiod of time; the value of electronic currency contained within (orrepresented by) a given container and/or by containers over a certainperiod of time (very important to reduce improper electronic currencyactivities); the financial amount committed in a purchase order,including that proper ordering authority is present; and so on. Suchrequirement assessment may be in reference to, for example, container(or other digital information communication) activity communicated froma certain logical and/or physical area, node, node group, user or userorganization, and/or other user grouping, wherein said reference isdetermined through referencing secure node and/or individual user and/ororganization and/or area identification information as, for example, aVDE secure container travels through said adapted one or moretelecommunication switches.

These Commerce Utility System “communications checkpoint” capabilitiescan provide useful security features by, for example, providing one ormore “independent” distributed security “check points” along atelecommunication route that substantially increases securityreliability by requiring the presence of a proper certificate and/orauthentication securely provided by such checkpoint and securelyassociated with and/or inserted within said container by a processmanaged by said checkpoint (or a group of checkpoints). This presencecan be tested by a receiving node—and a proper certificate orauthentication can be required to be present, for example according torules and controls, before such receiving node will process at least aportion of the content of one or more classes of received containers.Such container classes may include, for example, containers fromspecific individuals and/or groups and/or containers and/or containercontents that have certain one or more specific attributes.

Security Checkpoint Systems 6000 may be “independent” of end-userVirtual Distribution Environment nodes from a security perspective. Suchnodes may, for example, be independent from a security perspectivebecause they use key management to maintain multiple secure executioncompartments within their protected processing environments forcheckpoint management, such that a security breach in end-user nodesshall not directly comprise the security of checkpoint operation, and tohelp ensure that a breach related to a secure execution compartment willnot comprise other such compartments.

Security Checkpoint Systems 6000 may also gather audit informationincluding, for example, retrieving identity information of intendedcontainer recipient(s), class(es) of container information, checksumand/or other information employed for future validation (e.g.,non-repudiation), and/or archiving of some or all portions of saidcontainer's content. Some of this information may be at least in part inencrypted such that one or more portions of such information may not bedecrypted without the cooperation of one or more of the containersender, the intended and/or actual container recipient(s), and/or agovernment body having authority to access such information.

FIGS. 58C and 58D show an example of a “checkpoint security” CommerceUtility System 6000 arrangement that provides communication checkpointsecurity, non-repudiation, and archiving services within the context ofa telecommunications network connecting users 95(1), 95(2), 95(3). Inthis example, the security checkpoint systems 6000 may be part of thetelecommunications infrastructure. For example security checkpointsystems 6000 may be part of one or more telecommunications switches orother equipment that has been designed to detect secure electroniccontainers 152 based, for example, on the header information theycontain.

Security checkpoint systems 6000 in this example have the secure abilityto control whether or not a secure container 152 transmitted through thecommunications infrastructure will be permitted to pass—and theconsequences of routing the container through the communicationsinfrastructure. In one example, controls operating with a user 95(1)'sprotected processing environment may require certain kinds of containers152 (e.g., containers that carry electronic currency) to includecontrols 404 that require them to be routed through a securitycheckpoint systems 6000 (or a certain class of security checkpointsystems). Such controls 404 can prevent the container 152 or its content(e.g., currency it contains) from being used unless it is routed throughthe appropriate security checkpoint system 6000.

For example, suppose that user 95(1) wishes to send a secure container152 to user 95(2). In this example, the user 95(1) transmits thecontainer 152 to user 95(2) through the telecommunicationsinfrastructure. That infrastructure may detect that the informationbeing sent is a container, and may route the container for interceptionby the a security checkpoint system (system 6000(5), for example).

Security checkpoint system 6000(5) may, after intercepting the container152, examine the control information within the container to determinewhether requirements for further communicating the container to user95(2) have been satisfied. Security checkpoint system 6000(5) mayforward the container to user 95(2) only if those requirements have beenmet—or it may modify the container to permit user 95(2) to open and usethe container subject to the container's controls 404 (which may limituse, for example). The security checkpoint system 6000 may be authorizedto modify at least a portion of the container's controls 404—for exampleto add further use limitations.

This FIG. 58C example shows two “webs” of security checkpoint systems6000. In this example, these “webs” represent collections of securitycheckpoint systems 6000 that have each been certified (by a CertifyingAuthority 500 for example) as being:

-   -   (1) a security checkpoint system, and    -   (2) a member of the particular class.

Hence, in this example “web 1” represents the class of certifiedsecurity checkpoint systems 6000(1)-6000(5), 6000(7); and Web 2represents the class of security checkpoint systems 6000(4)-6000(6). Asone example, “web 1” security checkpoint systems 6000 may be certifiedas being capable of handling containers containing electronic currency6004.

One of the requirements specified within the control informationassociated with the container 152 may be that it must pass through a“web 2” security checkpoint system (e.g., system 6000(5))—for example,to enable certain secure auditing functions such as trusted electroniccurrency tracking. A “web 1” security checkpoint system (e.g., system6000(3)) may refuse to pass the container 152 to user 95(2) based onthese controls 404—or it may refuse to modify the container 152 to makeit usable by user 95(2).

By way of further example, suppose user 95(2) wishes to pass thecontainer 152 along to another user 95(3). The controls 404 associatedwith the container 152 may require, in this particular example, thatfurther communication of the container 152 must be through a “web 1”security checkpoint system 6000(7). This routing requirement may be beenpresent in the controls 404 provided by user 95(1), or it may be addedby security checkpoint system 6000(5) or the user 95(2)'s protectedprocessing environment.

In the particular example shown, the controls 404 may enable the “web 1”security checkpoint system 6000(7) to pass the container 152 along touser 95(3) via a further routing that does not include a securitycheckpoint system 6000 (e.g., via another type of commerce utilitysystem and/or a non-secure telecommunications switch).

FIG. 58D shows an example process performed by an example securitycheckpoint system. In this example process, the security checkpointsystem 6000 receives a container 152 (FIG. 58D, block 6002) anddetermines whether the requirements specified by its associated controls404 have been satisfied (FIG. 58D, decision block 6004). If therequirements have been satisfied, the security checkpoint system 6000may perform “requirements satisfied” consequences, e.g., modifyingcontrols 404 to satisfy the routing requirement mentioned above (FIG.58D, block 6006). If the requirements are not satisfied (FIG. 58D, “N”exit to decision block 6004), the security checkpoint system may perform“requirements not satisfied” consequences (FIG. 58D, block 6008).

Each set of consequences may involve some form of secure auditing, forexample. If the security checkpoint 6000 passes a container 152containing electronic currency for example, the security checkpoint 6000may record one or more of the following auditing information:

-   -   sender identity,    -   sender node identity,    -   receiver identity,    -   receiver node identity,    -   certificate(s) on which the currency is based,    -   other security checkpoints 6000 the currency has passed through,    -   the identity of prior handlers of the currency,    -   date, time, and location of transmission,    -   date, time, and location of receipt,    -   how long the currency has been in transit, and    -   other secure auditing information.

If the security checkpoint system 6000 refuses to pass and/or modify acontainer 152, it may produce an audit report including availabletracking information, for example:

-   -   sender name,    -   nature of deficiency,    -   intended receiver, and    -   other tracking information.

It may also notify the sender, the intended receiver, a governmentagency, or other authority. It may further charge a “failedcommunication” overhead fee to the sender, for example.

The security checkpoint system 6000 may then determine whetheradditional communications are required (FIG. 58D, decision block 6010).If not, the process may complete. If additional communications arerequired (“Y” exit to decision block 6010), the security checkpointsystem 6000 may transmit the container 152 to the next system (FIG. 58D,block 6012). The next system may be an additional security checkpointsystem 6000 that performs additional processing (FIG. 58D, blocks 6016,6004, 6006, 6008).

EXAMPLES Example

Electronic Content Distribution Value Chain

FIG. 59 shows how example Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can be used tosupport an example electronic content distribution value chain 162. Inthe FIG. 59 example, an author 164 may create a valuable work, such as anovel, television program, musical composition, or the like. The authorprovides this work 166 (for example, in electronic digital form) to apublisher 168.

The publisher may use his own branding, name recognition and marketingefforts to distribute the work to a consumer 95. The publisher 168 mayalso provide the work 166 to a content “aggregator” 170—someone whoprovides customers access to a wide range of content from multiplesources. Examples of aggregators include, for example, traditionalon-line information database services and World Wide Web sites that hostcontent from many diverse sources. Typically, consumers use anaggregator's services by searching for information relevant to one ormore consumer-defined topics. An aggregator 170 may provide the searchtools to the consumer 95 who will make their own selections.

The aggregator 170 might distribute the work 172 containing some or allof the original work 166 directly to consumer 95. Aggregator 170 mayalso distribute the work 172 to a “repackager” 174. Repackager 174 may,for example, take content from several sources on related matters andcombine them into mixed source products, such as multimediacombinations, newsletter publications, or “current awareness” packages.In these services, the repackager makes the selection of content andorganizes based on audience-indicated interest. A consumer 95 maysubscribe to an electronic newsletter on a particular topic or theconsumer may give the repackager 174 a short list of topics they areinterested in. The repackager 174 will select relevant information andcommunicate the information to the customer. Here the repackager isdoing the selecting for the consumer.

For example, repackager 174 might be the publisher of a newsletter andmight republish some or all of the author's work 166 in this newsletter176. Repackager 174 could directly distribute newsletter 176 to consumer95, or the newsletter could pass through still additional channels.Repackager 174 could use a search engine provided by aggregator 170 tofind articles of interest to consumer 95 and combine those articles intoan electronic newsletter that has both the aggregator 170's brand andthe repackagers 174's brand, and then send the newsletter to theconsumer 95.

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 may support the FIG. 59 value chain in anumber of ways. For example:

1. Certifying authority 500 can issue certificates that allow each ofthe value chain participants to identify who they are and to demonstratethat they are members of one or more particular classes. For example,author 164 and/or publisher 168 might specify that any certifiedaggregator or repackager is entitled to excerpt or anthologize work 166so long as appropriate payment is made. Certifying authority 500 couldissue digital certificates 504 supporting this desired businessobjective, the certificates certifying that aggregator 170 is in fact areputable aggregator and that repackager 174 in fact a reputablerepackager. So long as author 164 and/or publisher 168 trust thesecurity of the overall system 50 and the certificates 504 issued bycertifying authority 500, they will have no fear that the work 166 willbe excerpted or anthologized by anyone other than the appropriate typesof people they specify.

In another example, certifying authority 500 could issue a certificate504 to aggregator 170 or other user. Certifying authority 500 couldissue this certificate 504 at the direction of author 164 or publisher168. The certificate 504 may attest to the fact that author 164 orpublisher 168 agree that aggregator 170 or other user is authorized tomodify certain permissions 404. Author 164 or publisher 168 may havespecified permissions 404 so that that will allow themselves to bemodified only on the condition that an “authorized aggregator”certificate is present.

In another example, certifying authority 500 could issue a certificateto one or more classes of users, enabling, for example, utilization ofcontent and/or specific portions of content and/or modification ofpermissions, which such enabling may be limited to specific utilizationand/or modification by employing certain VDE rules and controls put inplace by the author or publisher or certificate authority (as allowed byin place rules and controls).

2. Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 in this particular examplemay be used to register work 166 and issue appropriate permissions 404consistent with authorizations and instructions provided by each valuechain participant. For example, the author 164 could register work 166with rights and permissions clearinghouse 400, and specify an electroniccontrol set 404 defining the rights of every other value chainparticipant.

For example:

-   -   This control set 404 could specify, as one example, that        publisher 168 can distribute an unlimited number of copies of        the work 166 so long as the publisher pays the author 164 a        certain dollar amount for each copy distributed.    -   The control set 404 might permit publisher 168 to add his own        additional controls that allow consumer 95 to read the work 166        an unlimited number of times but prevents the consumer from        copying or redistributing the work.    -   Although the electronic control set may travel in an electronic        container 152 with the work 166, it may also be provided        separately. For example, rights and permissions clearinghouse        400 might, upon request, supply a control set associated with        work 166 to anyone who requests a control set.

Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 might maintain differentversions of the control set 404 for different user classes so that, forexample, consumers 95 might receive one control set 404 a, aggregators170 might receive another control set 404 b, and repackagers 174 mightreceive a still further, different control set 404 c. Each of thesecontrol sets can be provided in advance by author 164 or other rightsholders, providing a “pre-approved permissioning” system that makeswidespread usage of work 166 extremely efficient and yet highly secure,and further, such control sets may interact with VDE distributedtemplate applications in a seamless manner—one or more templateapplications may be distributed with a control set by such distributorsof such control sets (or may be otherwise made available) to suchcontrol set recipients. In one particular “superdistribution” businessmodel, work 166 is allowed to be distributed as widely as possible, andrights and permissions clearinghouse 400 does the work of providingcurrent control sets 404 authorizing particular value chain participantsto use the work in particular ways under particular conditions.

3. Usage clearinghouse 300 in this particular example may support thevalue chain by collecting usage information from each value chainparticipant. The usage clearinghouse 300 may thus provide a secureauditing function, generating, for example, reports that track how manytimes the work 166 has been used and how it has been used.

As one example, usage clearinghouse 300 might analyze usage informationto determine how many consumers 95 have read the work. Usageclearinghouse 300 can, for example, report consumption information invarying amounts of detail and/or specific kinds of information, tovarious value chain participants consistent with privacy concerns andthe accepted business rights of each party. As one example, the usageclearinghouse 300 might give consumer 95 a very detailed report abouthis or her own particular usage of work 166, while providing author 164or publisher 168 with only summary report information that may, forexample, not include the consumer name, address, or other direct,identifying information.

As another example, reports could also flow directly from the repackager174 to the aggregator 170, publisher 168 and author 164. Reports may bedirected along any logical pathway, directly, or through any sequence ofparties, and containing whatever mix of information for each party as isacceptable to the value chain and as may be enforced, for example, atleast in part by VDE rules and controls

4. Financial clearinghouse 200, in this example, may provide secureclearing of financial details of the transaction—ensuring thatappropriate value chain participants compensate other appropriate valuechain participants. As one example, financial clearinghouse 200 mayreceive payments from consumer 95 based on the consumer's use of work166, and distribute parts of the payments appropriately to author 164,publisher 168, and other appropriate value chain participants in anautomated, efficient process managed at least in part by VDE rules andcontrols. For example, financial clearinghouse 200 might interface withother banks or financial institutions to accomplish an automation ofpayment transfers, and/or it might assist in managing electronic moneymaintained within the overall value chain shown. Financial clearinghouse200 may also assist in ensuring that itself and the other CommerceUtility Systems 90 are appropriately compensated for the administrativeand support services they provide, that is, for example, secure VDEprocesses operating within Commerce Utility Systems 90 may automaticallyensure the payment to such administrative and support service providers.

5. Secure directory services 600, in this example, may support theexample value chain by facilitating electronic communications betweenvalue chain participants and/or between Commerce Utility Systems 90. Forexample, secure directory services 600 can, upon request, provideelectronic address and/or routing information allowing one value chainparticipant to electronically contact another. As one example, suppose aconsumer 95 wants to obtain the latest addition of work 166 butdiscovers that the electronic address of publisher 168 has changed.Consumer 95 can electronically contact secure directory services 600,which can provide current address information. Of course, in commercialtrading system applications, for example, secure directory services mayprovide much more elaborate services for the identification of desiredparties, such as multi-dimensional searching of directory resources foridentifying parties based on class attributes. Secure directory services600 may also provide services that enable the identification of content,for example based upon content type and/or rules and controls associatedwith such content (pricing, allowed usage parameters such asredistribution rights, etc.).

6. Transaction authority 700 in this example might be used to assistrepackager 174 in developing newsletter 176. For example, transactionauthority 700 might help in automating a process in which a number ofdifferent works created by a number of different authors were allaggregated and excerpted for publication in the newsletter. Transactionauthority 700 can securely maintain the current status of an overallmulti-step process, specifying which steps have already been performedand which steps have yet to be performed. Transaction authority 700 canalso, for example, help arbitrate and mediate between differentparticipants in such a multi-step process, and can in some casesactively influence or control the process (for example, by issuing newinstructions or requirements based upon error or other conditions).

Example

Manufacturing Chain

FIG. 60 shows an example manufacturing value chain supported byDistributed Commerce Utility 75. In this particular example, a customer95 places an order with a manufacturer 180 and receives an orderconfirmation. The manufacturer may order parts and supplies from anumber of different suppliers 182(1)-182(N). Suppliers 181(1)-182(N)may, in turn, order additional parts or sub-assemblies from additionalsuppliers 182(a 1), . . . . A bank 184 may supply funds to suppliers 182based on proofs of order and assurances that the manufacturer will payback the advances. A transportation/warehousing company 186 may providetransportation and warehousing for supplies and/or final products.

In this value chain, certifying authority 500 and transaction authority700 can assist with secure flow of electronic orders, confirmations,terms and conditions, and contracts, and can also help to ensure thateach value chain participant can maintain the desired degree ofconfidentiality while exchanging necessary information with other valuechain participants. Usage clearinghouse 300 may assist in secureauditing of the overall process, tracking of physical and electronicparcels between the value chain participants, and other usage relatedoperations. Financial clearinghouse 200 may handle the financialarrangements between the value chain participants, for example,assisting in coordinating between the world of electronic network 150and a paper-oriented or other world of bank 184. Rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 may provide a secure archive for electronic controls404 defining parts or all of the transaction. Transaction authority 700may securely monitor the overall progress of transactions occurringamong value chain participants, and provide periodic status reports asappropriate to each value chain participant. In addition, transactionauthority 700 can assist in directing or arbitrating the overalltransactions to ensure that all steps and requirements are fulfilled.Secure directory services 600 can assist in routing informationelectronically between the different value chain participants. Ofcourse, as previously stated for the present inventions and asapplicable throughout this specification, VDE chain of handling andcontrol and other capabilities, including rules and controls and securecommunication techniques, would preferably be used as a foundation forthe above activities.

Examples of how Commerce Utility Systems can Support One Another

FIGS. 16A-16E described above show how different Commerce UtilitySystems 90 can support one another. In more detail, FIG. 16A shows thata financial clearinghouse 200 may provide services to one or more otherCommerce Utility Systems 90, including, for example, the usageclearinghouse 300, the rights and permissions clearinghouse 400, thecertifying authority 500, the secure directory services 600, thetransaction authority 700 and another financial clearinghouse 200′.Under such circumstances, the plural Commerce Utility Systems constituteboth a virtual clearinghouse and a higher order Commerce Utility System.

In each instance, the financial clearinghouse 200 may collect funds duethe support services and deposit these funds to at least one provideraccount employing at least one payment method. The financialclearinghouse 200 may also provide VDE audit records confirming thesource and amount of the funds and the provider account in which thefunds were deposited by the financial clearinghouse 200. The financialclearinghouse 200 may provide assistance to one or more other supportservices in establishing provider accounts and communicating to such oneor more support services the account number and/or numbers and terms andconditions that may apply. Both the support service request to thefinancial clearinghouse 200 and its responses to the requesting supportservice can be communicated in VDE secure containers (as mentionedearlier) to take advantage of their substantial security,confidentiality, flexible control architecture, and trustedness, and canbe processed at each location by one or more VDE Protected ProcessingEnvironments. Financial and account information may be provided in theform of VDE control sets and/or be incorporated in VDE control sets bythe financial clearinghouse 200 and/or by one or more other supportservices. Financial clearinghouses 200 may also provide services to eachother to promote further operating and administrative efficiencies. Forexample, one financial clearinghouse 200 may provide services to itscounterparts in other countries or in other geographic regions. Inanother example, one financial clearinghouse 200 may provide anotherfinancial clearinghouse 200 access to one or more payment methods notdirectly supported by the second financial clearinghouse 200.

FIG. 16B shows that the usage clearinghouse 300 may also provideservices to other Commerce Utility Systems 90. In one example, the usageclearinghouse 300 may provide raw data, aggregated data, at least inpart derived information, and/or reports to other electronic commercesupport services such as financial clearinghouses 200, rights andpermissions clearinghouses 400, certifying authorities 500, securedirectory services 600, transaction authorities 700, and other usageclearinghouses 300′. These other infrastructure services may use thisinformation as independent third party verification of certaintransactions and their details, for market research on behalf of theirown services, and/or to resell this information, perhaps in conjunctionwith their own usage information. In one example, a rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 might sell reports to a publishercontaining a combination of their own information, and that from thefinancial clearinghouse 200 and usage clearinghouse 300 plus securedirectory service 600 and certifying authority 500. More specifically, areport might contain a list of objects registered at the rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 by a particular publisher, the number ofrequests to the rights and permissions clearinghouse for updated oradditional rights and permissions, financial clearinghouse 200 summaryrevenue numbers for each digital property, the number of certificates bythe certifying authority 500 on behalf of the publisher indicating thatthe user had been certified and had a valid subscription to thepublisher's digital works, and the number of requests to the securedirectory service 600 seeking information about the network addresses ofthe publisher's online web servers. In each case, a support serviceprovided the information to the rights and permissions clearinghouse forincorporation in this report to the publisher.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Support Digital Property Purchasing,Licensing and/or Renting Transactions

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 provides significant trustedness,security, convenience, and efficiencies for instances in which customerspay for digital information. Moreover, information creators anddistributors can price this information—indeed, any digital property inany digital format—in various ways and in different ways in differentmarkets.

FIG. 61 shows an example of an information delivery service arrangement1000 in which an information provider 168 provides electronic contentfor purchase, rental and/or licensing. In this example, an informationservices company 168 distributes information 166 to several globalmarkets, including individuals, Their market areas includeprofessionals, home office users, and the small office marketplace, aswell as medium and large companies and consumers at home. For example,provider 168 may deliver content 166 in electronic form to a homeconsumer 95(1), a professional such as a lawyer 95(2), and to acorporation or other organization 95(3). In one example:

-   -   an individual consumer 95(1) buys under subscription pricing        three articles 166(1) from an online encyclopedia;    -   a lawyer 95(2) buys three chapters 166(2) from a treatise on        patent law; and    -   two product marketing managers in a large company 95(3) receive        a proprietary market research report 166(3).

Prior to information delivery transactions, the consumer 95(1),professional 95(2) and company 95(3) may use a secure directory service600 to locate the network address of the information provider 168 aswell as assist in identifying the content they wish to work with.Subsequently, these parties 95 may send an electronic message toprovider 168 requesting the specific information they want to receive.Provider 168 may deliver this information 166 within VDE secureelectronic containers 152 along with associated rules and controls 188that control pricing and permissions. Each of parties 95 has anelectronic appliance 100 including a protected processing environment154 that enforces these controls 188.

The provider 168 can price information differently for differentmarkets. For example:

-   -   professionals 95(2) and SOHO (small office/home office) pay        transaction fees;    -   large companies 95(3) pay a mixture of subscription and        transaction fees (e.g., company 95(3) may pay $10 per page        printed or excerpted from a larger report, and may also pay a        subscription fee); and    -   Individual consumers 95(1) pay a flat subscription rate.

In each of these cases, local, state, and/or federal sales taxes, asappropriate, are included in the retail price. Payment methods may beprovided within electronic control sets 188 delivered in electroniccontainers 152 with, and/or independently of, the associated content 166(for example, as provided in Ginter, et al).

A financial clearinghouse 200 ensures that provider 168 receives paymentthrough any authorized payment method. The information delivery service168 accepts a broad range of payment methods. Some forms of payment aremore popular in certain markets than in others. For example:

-   -   In the professional, SOHO, and consumer markets, credit        (MasterCard and Visa) and charge (American Express) are popular.    -   Consumers 95(1) also like credit cards, and are making        increasing use of bank debit cards.    -   Large companies 95(3) also use credit and charge cards, payment        through Automated Clearinghouses (ACHs), and billing and payment        through traditional and VDE secure Electronic Data Interchange        (EDI) transactions based, for example, on X.12 protocols.

A financial clearinghouse 200 makes payment more efficient in severalways. For example, financial clearinghouse 200 furnishes provider 168with a convenient, “one stop shopping” interface to the several paymentmethods, and keeps track of the at least one account number associatedwith a given provider.

In this particular example, a certifying authority 500 may deliverdigital certificates to each of consumers 95 specifying a consumer's oneor more classes. For example, certifying authority 500 may deliver:

-   -   one or more certificates 504(1) attesting to the fact that        consumer 95(1) is an individual consumer subscriber to        information service 1000 and further attesting to the fact that        the consumer is a registered college student and is a resident        (for the taxation purposes related to the transaction) of        California,    -   a certificate 504(2) attesting to the fact that professional        95(2) is a lawyer admitted before the bar of the State of        California, and    -   one or more certificates 504(3) attesting to the fact that        corporation 95(3) is a legally incorporated entity and has a        certain credit worthiness.

Control sets 188 may activate the different payment methods based on thepresence of an appropriate digital certificate 504. For example, controlset 188(1) delivered to consumer electronic appliance 100(1) authorizesconsumer 95(1) to use each of the three articles 166(1). Control set188(1) may, for example, contain a requirement that the consumer 95(1)must have a certificate 504(1) from an independent certifying authority500 (or from the information distributor or other party acting in acertifying authority capacity under authorization from a more seniorcertifying authority) attesting to the fact that the consumer 95(1) hasa subscription that has not yet expired to the online encyclopedia. Thiscertificate 504(1) may, for example, be used in conjunction with othercertificates issued by the certifying authority 500 (e.g., perhaps runby, or authorized by, the US government or other governing body)attesting to the fact that the consumer 95(1) is a US citizen, resideswithin the US, and is a legal resident of the State of California.

The Individual Consumer

The consumer 95(1) pays the information provider 168 for thesubscription through a transaction transmitted to the financialclearinghouse 200 in a VDE electronic container 152. The paymenttransaction may involve, for example, the consumer appliance 100 sendingto financial clearinghouse 200 an electronic container 152(7) includingrules and controls 188(4) and audit records 302(1). The audit records302(1) may indicate, for example:

-   -   who should be paid,    -   the amount of the transaction,    -   the particular payment method (a VISA card, for example),    -   the subscriber's VISA card number and expiration date,    -   an identifier of the information subscription, and    -   the number of the provider's account to which the payment should        be credited.

The secure container 152(7) may also contain rules and controls 188(4)indicating that municipal, California and US federal sales taxes shouldalso be collected. The financial clearinghouse 200 collects theappropriate sales taxes and deposits the funds in the appropriateaccounts, for example certain funds would be deposited in the accountbelonging to the appropriate State of California tax collection agency1002.

In exchange for the payment, the subscribing customer 95(1) may receivefrom certifying authority 500 a certificate 504(1) indicating she is infact a subscriber and the expiration date of the current subscription.

The Professional

The lawyer 95(2) in this example may be located in the United Kingdom.He purchases the three chapters 166(2) from a treatise on patents usinga MasterCard, but pays in pounds sterling rather than in dollars. Toperform the purchase transaction, the lawyer 95(2) may first bepreauthorized by the financial clearinghouse 200 for purchases eachmonth of up to $500 US (or the equivalent in pounds). Thepre-authorization may be sent from the financial clearinghouse 200 tothe lawyer's appliance 100(2) in the form of a budget control 188(5) ina secure container 152(8). The protected processing environment 154(2)within the lawyer's appliance 100(3) may open the container 152(8),authenticate the budget record 188(5), and store the control within anassociated secure database maintained by PPE 154(2).

Upon receiving opening each of the three chapters 166(1), the lawyer'sprotected processing environment 154(2) may create an associated auditrecord, and may decrement available credit in the budget record by theamount of the purchase. At month end, or when the $500 preauthorizedcredit has been exhausted, the lawyer's PPE 154(2) may send to thefinancial clearinghouse 200, a secure container 152(9) with auditrecords 302(2) indicating all the purchases, their amounts, and theprovider account or accounts to be credited, this supporting efficientautomation of clearing processes. The financial clearinghouse 200 mayopen the secure container 152(9), debit the lawyer's credit cardaccount, and pay the appropriate provider accounts their due.

The Company

Preliminary to content transactions, a distributed corporate financialclearinghouse 200A within the company 95(3), while operating under theauthority of the financial clearinghouse 200, sends to each of managers95(3)A, 95(3)B a secure container 152 a budget record 188 indicatingtheir currently approved monthly information and market research budget.A corporate distributed certifying authority 500A (in the same trusthierarchy as the certifying authority 500, in this example) may alsoissue digital certificates 504 (not shown) to employees of the company.

In this example, each product manager 95(3)A, 95(3)B prints selectedportions of the report and the budget on his or her local appliance 100,which is decremented by $10 for each page printed. The protectedprocessing environment 154(3) within the local electronic appliance100(3) securely performs this process, conditioning it on controls188(3) that may require appropriate digital certificates 504(3) issuedby certifying authority 500 and/or the distributed corporate certifyingauthority 500A.

According to controls 188(3) supplied by the information provider, forexample, at the end of the month, or when the budget for that month isexhausted, the corporation's appliance 100(3) sends to the corporateinternal financial clearinghouse 200A audit records (not shown)indicating any purchases that might have been made during the reportinginterval and the amounts and provider account numbers for thosepurchases. The distributed, local corporate financial clearinghouse 200Aaggregates the sums in the audit records and sends in a secure container152(12) at least one audit record 302(3) to the external financialclearinghouse 200 to authorize payment of the total amount owed theprovider of the market research reports through an AutomatedClearinghouse (ACH). Also in the secure container 152(11) (e.g., as partof audit record 302(3)) are the account number of the company 95(3) fromwhich the funds should be debited and the account number of the marketresearch company that issued the report into which the funds should becredited. The financial clearinghouse 200 completes the payment processthrough the ACH and sends a VDE secure container (providing at least oneaudit record) back to the internal, corporate financial clearinghouse200A as confirmation. Distributed clearinghouse 200A may, in turn, send,using a secure container (not shown), at least one confirming auditrecord to each of the product managers 95(3)A, 95(3)B.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Support Transactions where aConsumer Purchases and Pays for a Tangible Item

A significant portion of electronic commerce will entail the sale,purchase, distribution management, and/or payment for intangibles of allkinds. Commerce in tangibles has many of the same security, trustedness,and efficiency requirements as commerce in intangibles (e.g., digitalinformation). For the computer to become a true commerce appliance, adistributed, secure, trusted rights/event management software layer(e.g., rights operating system or middleware) such as the VirtualDistribution Environment described in the Ginter et al. specification isa necessity. Thus, even when tangibles rather than digital propertiesare the object of secure electronic commerce, Distributed CommerceUtility 75 can play an important role.

FIG. 62 shows an example tangible goods purchasing and payment system1010. In the FIG. 62 example, imagine a well-known provider of clothingand certain related household items, for example, L.L. Bean or Lands'End, offers their wares over a digital network such as theInternet/World Wide Web. In this example, the company creates:

-   -   a Web catalog server 1012 to offer a line of clothing to        consumers 95,    -   a web fulfillment server 1014 that is an interface to the        fulfillment function, and    -   a third web server 1016 that acts as a secure financial        clearinghouse 200 and as an interface to several payment methods        (e.g., MasterCard (“MC”), VISA, and American Express (“AMEX”).

The company also in this one example

-   -   registers the service with the secure directory service provider        600, and    -   through the financial clearinghouse 200, establishes a provider        account with at least one payment method, such as a credit card,        debit card, and/or bank, and    -   registers several transactions with a transaction authority 700.

In this example, the company registers with the transaction authority700, which may be a distributed transaction authority within the companyselling the goods, an atomic transaction comprising at least oneelectronic control set that describes, for example:

-   -   sending the order to the fulfillment processing one or more        organizations such as a warehouse 1018 and logistics 1020 (which        may or may not be the same company),    -   receiving confirmation that the desired merchandise is in fact        in stock,    -   receiving confirmation of the order,    -   receiving payment pre-authorization from a payment method for        the particular customer placing the order,    -   shipping instructions for the merchandise,    -   confirmation that the merchandise was actually shipped, and    -   controls for completing the payment transaction.

In this one example, the company also obtains at least one digitalcertificate 504 from a certifying authority 500 attesting to at leastone fact, for example, that

-   -   the company is a legitimate corporation registered in the State        of Delaware;    -   the company is not in bankruptcy and/or the company has a        certain degree of creditworthiness,    -   the company has been assigned a particular Federal tax        Identification Number, and    -   that the company has State tax Identification Numbers in each of        several states, the specific states and their corresponding        Identification Numbers,

A customer 95 uses his or her electronic appliance 100 with Web browsingcapabilities to access the catalog server 1012 over the Internet's WorldWide Web. The catalog server 1012 sends the customer 95 a web pace 1022providing a page from an electronic catalog. Web page 1022 may be sentin one or more secure electronic containers 152(1). The customer 95displays the web page 1022A using his or her electronic appliance 100,and clicks on the part of the web page showing a men's short sleeveOxford button down shirt selling for $15.95. The current Web page isreplace by a web page 1022B from the fulfillment server 1014. Thissecond web page 1022B may be sent in a secure container 152(2).

The customer's electronic appliance 100 has a protected processingenvironment 154. PPE 154 opens the secure container 152, and displaysthe page 1022B on the screen. The page 1022B being displayed is a formthat has several fields including the catalog number and description ofthe shirt and retail price. The customer 95 fills in fields for color,neck size, normal or tall person, normal or trim fit, and quantity. Thecustomer 95 also indicates where the shirt(s) are to be delivered, theclass of delivery service desired, and the customer's address.

Upon the customer 95 completing the required information, the electronicappliance 100 puts the form field information 1024 in a secure container152(3) and sends the container back to the fulfillment service 1014.Fulfillment server 1014 opens the container 152(3) and reads the fieldinformation 1024. Fulfillment server 1014 creates a VDE audit recordindicating receipt of information 1024. Fulfillment server 1014 may alsocreate a control set 188 and/or an event notification that initiates apurchase transaction.

Fulfillment server 1014 may communicate with warehouse 1018 directly orthrough transaction authority 700. The fulfillment server 1014 thendetermines whether the required items are in stock and available to beshipped. If fulfillment server 1014 determines that the required itemsare in stock and available to be shipped, and if the information 1024provided by the consumer is sufficient to proceed, the fulfillmentservice sends back to the consumer another Web page 1022C indicating:

-   -   that the purchase can be fulfilled,    -   what are the various sales taxes and delivery charges,    -   the address provided and class of delivery service chosen,    -   new fields for payment related information, and    -   a query asking whether the consumer wishes to proceed.

The fulfillment service 1014 also sends audit records 302(1) to theconsumer's PPE 154 and to the transaction authority 700 indicating whichparts of the larger, atomic transaction have been fulfilled.

If the customer 95 determines he or she does not wish to continue withthe transaction after viewing fulfillment details, his or her appliance100 can send a secure VDE container 152(5) to the fulfillment service1014 and to the transaction authority 700 indicating that thetransaction is canceled. If the customer 95 says yes, please continuewith the transaction, the customer is prompted to pick a payment methodfrom among the list provided. In this example, the list corresponds topayment methods supported by both the merchandise provider and by thefinancial clearinghouse 200. The customer 95 fills in credit or chargecard number, for example, expiration date, and billing address.

Upon completion of the required information, the customer's appliance100 can send the information, using his or her secure PPE, in a secureVDE container 152(5) to the financial clearinghouse 200, and may send aseparate VDE container (not shown) with an audit record to thetransaction authority 700.

The financial clearinghouse 200 gets pre-authorization from the creditcard processing company, and, for example, using a secure VDE container152(6) returns the pre-authorization approval information 1026 to thefulfillment server 1014. Financial clearinghouse 200 may send anotherVDE container 152(7) to the transaction authority 700 with an auditrecord 302(2) indicating completion of the pre-authorization step.

The fulfillment server 1014 may send a further VDE secure container152(8) to the customer 95 with a new Web page 1022D and audit recordinformation 302(3) indicating that:

-   -   the order process is complete,    -   the sale has been approved by payment method,    -   when the goods are shipped, the customer's credit card will be        charged the total amount, and    -   a transaction confirmation number for further reference in order        to be able to make inquiries with the fulfillment service 1014        and/or with the transaction authority 700

The fulfillment service 1014 (e.g., in cooperation with warehouse 1018)packages the goods, hands them off to an express delivery service 1020,and, for example, sends VDE secure containers 152(9), 152(10) with auditrecords 302(4), 302(5) indicating shipment to the financialclearinghouse 200 and the transaction authority 700, respectively. Inthis example, the express delivery service (“logistics”) 1020 also sendsa VDE secure container 152(11) to the transaction authority 700 and tothe fulfillment service (and also, if desired, to the customer 95)indicating that the express service 1020 has taken possession of thepackage.

Upon delivery of the package with the merchandise, in this example, theexpress delivery service 1020 sends a VDE secure container 152(12)containing an audit record 302(7) indicating that delivery of thepackage has been completed to the transaction authority 700 which thenmarks the transaction completed and then may send additional VDE securecontainers 152 indicating completion to the financial clearinghouse 200,to the express delivery service 1020, to the fulfillment service 1014,and in some examples to the customer 95.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Support Transactions in whichCustomers Pay for Services

A hallmark of advanced Western economies, especially the economy of theUnited States at the end of the present century, has been the transitionfrom a largely manufacturing, “smoke stack” economy to not only an“information economy” but to a “service economy” as well. DistributedCommerce Utility 75 can support transactions in which customers pay for,and in many examples, consume or otherwise make use of services.

FIG. 63 shows an example online service system 1030. In one example, anonline service 1032 registers with the secure directory service 600 andobtains a digital certificate 504(1) from a certifying authority 500attesting to identity of the online service. The online service alsoagrees to trust certificates 504 issued by the certifying authority 500and by parties certified by the certifying authority 500 to issuecertificates for specified facts.

For example, the online service 1032 agrees to accept certificates504(3) issued by a distributed certifying authority 500A from parentscertified by the certifying authority 500 (through certificate 504(2))to issue certificates attesting to the facts that they have children andthat these children are currently minor children. In turn, the onlineservice 1032 will not allow children so certified to access certainsubject matter materials distributed by the online service nor to acceptdigital signatures based on those certificates for purchasetransactions, unless the adult person responsible for the child hasissued another certificate attesting to their willingness to befinancially responsible (e.g., unconditionally or for purchases up tosome specified limit per transaction or some aggregate level of spendingin a specified time period, in one example, so much per month). Thesecertificates 504(2), 504(3) may be sent from the certifying authority500 to the parent and/or to at least one child in a VDE secure container152.

Now suppose the child 95(2) subscribes to an online game called “chat.”Online service 1032 has a Web interface specifically designed for schoolaged children. This service 1032 offers a subscription that must berenewed quarterly. Using an electronic appliance 100 such as a personalcomputer or TV and settop box with bidirectional communications and aprotected processing environment 154, the child 95(2) uses securedirectory services 600 to locate the online service 1032, and sends amessage requesting a subscription. In response, the online service 1032sends to the parent 95(1) or guardian in a VDE secure container 152(4),a request 1034 for payment, membership, and member information. Theparent or guardian and/or other paying individual 95(1) provides his orher (or their) credit card number(s), expiration date(s), and billingaddress information 1036 in one or more other secure containers 152(5)to the online service 1032.

In this example, the online service 1032 communicates the customer'sservice account, credit card and/or other payment information 1036 tothe financial clearinghouse using a VDE secure container 152(6) (in avariation on this example, the parent 95(1) may have provided thisfinancial and related information directly to the financialclearinghouse 200 in a VDE secure container 152(5)). The online serviceprovider 1032 also provides to the financial clearinghouse 200 theclearinghouse network address and provider account number. Within aprotected processing environment (which may, for example, comprise ageneral purpose computer locked in a physically secure vault or othersecure installation), the financial clearinghouse 200 opens the securecontainer 152(6), extracts the payment information 1036, and completesthe payment transaction with the credit card company.

For this example, the financial clearinghouse 200, in turn, communicatesthe following information 1038 (this list is for illustrative purposesonly and does not detract from the general case in which any availableset of information might have been communicated) to the online service1032 in at least one secure VDE container 152(7):

-   -   VDE audit record for this transaction,    -   transaction authorization number,    -   provider account number,    -   account number of the customer at the service, and    -   amount of the payment.

In turn, the online service 1032 sends a secure container 152(8) to thecustomer 95(1) indicating that payment has been accepted. In oneexample, online service 1032 may instruct certifying authority 500 toissue a certificate 504 attesting to the validity of the subscriptionuntil a specified date. Online service 1032 may also provide auditrecords 302(1) derived from the information 1038 provided by thefinancial clearinghouse 200.

Each time the child 95(2) logs on to the online information service1032, the child's PPE 154 checks to determine if any certificates 504are present or known and if so, whether:

-   -   these digital certificates attest to an current, unexpired        subscription to the online service, and    -   any minor child certificates are present and valid (for example,        have not expired because the child has not yet reached their        18^(th) birthday).

Having ascertained through these certificates 504 that the child 95(2)is authorized to use the online service 1032 and is prohibited fromaccessing certain “adult” content, the online service grants selectiveaccess, that is to authorized portions.

Among the features of this online service are distributed, multipersoninteractive games. The child 95(2) in this example plays the game withat least one other authorized and certified minor child—adults areprecluded by underlying VDE rules and controls from playing this game inthis particular example. At least one portion of the software (e.g.,executable code and/or interpretable code, such as Java) that implementsat least one portion 1040 of the at least one game can be download fromthe online service 1032 to the child's information appliance 100(2)using at least one VDE secure container 152(9).

Using methods described in the Ginter et al. disclosure, these programsand/or portions of programs 1040 are determined to be authentic andunmodified. At least one of the keys used to calculate the one way hashfunction that produces the digital signature used for determining theintegrity of the at least one program 1040 or at least one part of aprogram is bound to the identity of the online service 1032 by acertificate 504 issued by certifying authority 500.

As the child 95(2) in this example plays the game, at least a portion ofhis or her activities are metered according to methods disclosed in theco-pending Ginter et al. application and audit records 302(2) arecreated that indicate this child's usage. At certain times, these auditrecords 302(2) are transmitted to the online service 1032 which may, inthis example, include a usage clearinghouse 300. Usage clearinghouse 300analyzes these usage records 302(2), and may use them to determine howmuch to charge child 95(2).

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can be Used to Provide Value ChainDisaggregation for Purchase and/or Use of Tangible Items

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can be used to facilitate a purchase orother type of transaction relating to tangible goods. FIG. 64 shows anexample tangible goods delivery system 1040. For example, a company 1042places an order for office supplies using an electronic appliance 100including a PPE 154. The order is for a box of paper clips, a stapler,staples, a case of 8.5×11 inch copy paper, and a dozen yellow legal sizenote pads. The items are manufactured by a manufacturer 1050,distributed by a distributor 1048, and sold to the company by a retailer1046.

In this example, a financial clearinghouse 200 receives a payment 1052from the company 1042, and disaggregates the payment by dividing it upinto disaggregated payments 1052A, 1052B, 1052C which it delivers toeach of retailer 1046, distributor 1048 and manufacturer 1050.

For example, the company 1042 sends its order 1044 within a VDEelectronic container 152(1) to a retailer 1046. In this example,retailer 1046 provides a fulfillment service that receives the order1044 and, in response, provides a control set 188 indicating theprovider account number of the distributor 1048 and/or manufacturer 1050of each item and the percent of the retail price to be received by each.If desired, retailer 1046 may provide a different control set 188 foreach item ordered (regardless of quantity)—allowing different paymentdisaggregation to be performed on an item-by-item basis. Retailer 1046may provide this control set 188 a to company 1042.

Control set 188 a may be conditioned on the presence of one or moredigital certificates 504 issued by certifying authority 500. Forexample, control set 188 a may require company 1042 to provide a digitalcertificate 504(1) issued by the certifying authority 500. Certificate504(1) attests to the identity of the ordering company 1042. The company504(1) may provide another certificate 504(2) in the same chain of trusthierarchy as the certifying authority 500 warranting that the personplacing the order is authorized to place orders up to a specifiedspending limit per order. Company 1042 may provide the same or differentcertificate 504(2) also indicating that the purchaser employee withinthe company is authorized to make use of a corporate charge card.

In this example, the company 1042 pays with a corporate charge card. Thefinancial clearinghouse 200 first gets payment authorization from thecredit card company prior to the retailer 1046 shipping the merchandise.Upon receiving notification of preauthorization, retailer 1046 may shipthe goods 1047 to the company 1042. Following delivery of themerchandise 1047, the retailer 1046 creates at least one VDE auditand/or billing record 1052 in at least one VDE secure container 152(2),and transmits the container to the financial clearinghouse 200 (auditinformation may also or alternatively be sent to retailer 1046).

The financial clearinghouse 200 then completes the charge cardtransaction by allocating the total payment amount to each of the valuechain participants represented by control set 188 a (which it may havereceived, for example, directly from retailer 1046 and/or throughcompany 1042). In this way, the distributors 1048 and/or manufacturers1050 receive their payments at the same time the retail seller 1046receives its payment. Control set information 188 a may also indicateshares of the total payment and provider account numbers for local,state, and federal taxes, if any, and, for example, for deliverycharges, such as to an overnight express company, if any.

This FIG. 64 example shows that value chain disaggregation can apply forboth tangibles and for intangibles. Similar techniques can also be usedmuch further back through the manufacturer's 1050 supply chains if sodesired (e.g., to the providers of the metal from which the paper clipswere fabricated).

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Help Distribute Digital Propertiesby Providing Object Registry and Other Services

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can assist the electronic community inefficiently distributing electronic or digital properties or content.For example, using an electronic appliance 100 equipped with a protectedprocessing unit 154, a creator or other rights holder 400 sends adigital object in a secure container to a rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 to be registered.

The rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 opens the container using,for example, its own VDE protecting processing unit, and assigns auniform object identifier indicating the identity of the creator, thetype of object being registered—software, video, sound, text,multimedia, etc., and the digital signature for the object. The uniformobject identifier may be globally unique or may be unique only in thenamespace domain of the creator or some other entity, such as an onlineservice, digital library, or specific jurisdiction, such as a specificcountry.

In this example, using its protected processing environment, the rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400 digitally signs the uniform objectidentifier with the rights and permissions clearinghouse private key andreturns the object and identifier to the person or organizationregistering it in a VDE secure container. The rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 may retain a copy of the object or may retain only theuniform object identifier for the object, and the signatures for theobject and its uniform object identifier. In another example, the rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400 digitally signs a new object comprisedof the original object and its uniform file identifier, and stores boththe new object and/or its signature in the rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 archive.

The creator may have also sent in a VDE secure container a permissionsand pricing template 450 (see FIGS. 45A-45C) indicating whichpermissions are granted, the prices to be charged upon exercising thosepermissions, and if applicable, the individual, class and/orjurisdiction to which those prices and permissions apply. More than onepermission and pricing template 450 may be sent in a single VDE securecontainer 152, or separate VDE secure containers 152 may be used foreach permission and pricing template.

In this example, using a VDE secure container 152, the object is thentransmitted from the creator to a distributor 168 (see FIG. 16). Using acertificate 504, the distributor 168 can prove to the VDE instance (PPE154) interpreting the creator's control set that the distributor isindeed authorized to selectively alter permissions and prices of theobject and creates a new permissions and pricing template. Thedistributor 168 then sends a VDE secure container to the rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 containing the uniform object identifiertogether with the new controls. In the preferred embodiment, if theobject remains unmodified, the distributor 168 has the option of leavingthe uniform object identifier unmodified; however, if the distributorhas modified the object, perhaps to add its own brand, then the uniformobject identifier must be modified to reflect the distributor's version.The digital signature is recomputed using the private key of thedistributor. As before, the object registry has the option of storingonly the digital signature or both the signature and the actual object.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can be Used to Facilitate CopyrightRegistration

As a value added service, the rights and permissions clearinghouse 400can provide a copyright registration service (see FIG. 43). The rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400 can send a copy of the object to theappropriate online copyright registration service of the appropriategovernment agency 440, for example, the US Copyright Office. The objectand uniform object identifier may be sent in a VDE secure containertogether with controls indicating the mode of payment, if a registrationor processing is being charged.

In this example, the copyright registration service can send at leastone VDE secure container to the financial clearinghouse 200 with atleast one audit record indicating the amount to be paid, the paymentmethod and account of the registering party, and the account of thegovernment to receive the funds, and receives in return in a VDE securecontainer an audit record indicting that the transaction has beenpre-authorized (or that for whatever reason, the proposed transactionhas not been authorized).

If the transaction has been pre-authorized by the financialclearinghouse 200, a VDE enabled computer located, in this one example,in US Copyright office opens the secure container and adds the uniformobject identifier and the object to the registration database. Under achain of trust emanating from the certifying authority 500—which in thisexample may be operated by, or on behalf of the US government—thecopyright registration service issues at least one digital certificate504 attesting to the facts that an object with a specified uniformobject identifier and with a specified digital signature has been infact registered with the registration authority and that the at leastone person is in fact the owner of the copyright at the time the objectwas registered. This certificate 504 is sent in a VDE secure containerto the person who registered the object (and/or who was named as theperson to be notified) and to the rights and permissions clearinghouse400 who, in turn, may provide copyright registration information uponrequest in a secure VDE container.

The copyright registration service sends at least one VDE securecontainer to the financial clearinghouse 200 with at least one auditrecord instructing the clearinghouse 200 to proceed with fulfillment ofthe pre-authorized transaction (if all necessary information was part ofthe pre-authorization process) and/or providing information to theclearinghouse 200 regarding, for example, the amount to be paid, thepayment method and account of the registering party, the account of theUS government to receive the funds, and that the payment transactionshould be completed, and receives in return from the financialclearinghouse in a VDE secure container an audit record indicting thatthe transaction has been completed and funds deposited in theappropriate account or accounts, or that the payment transaction failand the reason why it failed to be completed.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Support Renewal or Modification ofPermissions and Prices

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can further facilitate the distributionof electronic and digital properties by providing a mechanism forrenewing rights and permissions that have expired. See FIG. 42A.

In one example, suppose an employee of a Fortune 1000 company has acontrol set for a digital property, perhaps a piece of software or aJava applet, that has expired. The VDE protected processing environmenton the employee's computer can send a VDE secure container to the rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400.

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can also facilitate the distribution ofelectronic and digital properties by providing a mechanism fordistributing rights, permissions and prices that have been changed byone or more participants in a distribution chain. In one example,suppose a customer has a digital object on her hard disk and its VDEcontrol set as distributed by the publisher. The permissions and pricesoriginally indicated a pay per use model in which the user pays 10 centsfor each operation on the object, such as printing or viewing.

To determine if new rights and prices are now available, the protectedprocessing environment on the customer's PC can send a VDE securecontainer to the Rights and Permissions clearinghouse 400 using itsnetwork address obtained from the control set together withMIME-compliant electronic mail. The customer obtained the address of therights and permissions clearinghouse from the secure directory service600, having, for example, sent a query in a VDE secure container andhaving received a response in a VDE secure container.

The VDE secure container sent to the rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 contains the object identifier plus a request for thecurrent controls including prices. The protected processing environmentat the rights and permission clearinghouse 400 server opens the VDEsecure container, retrieves the most recent control set from thedatabase of controls, and sends via return electronic mail another VDEsecure container with the desired controls. The customer's protectedprocessing environment opens this container, and replaces and/oraugments the expired controls with the new ones. The customer is nowable to use the content according to the rules and controls specified inthe control set just received from the rights and permissionsclearinghouse and processed by the instance of VDE on the local computeror other appliance. In this example, these new rules and controls havereduced the pay per use price from ten cents per operation to five centsper operation.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Support Models to Distribute NewRights

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can also support transactions in whichsome or all rights are not initially distributed to the ultimateconsumer with the content, but must be requested instead. In oneexample, suppose a lawyer decides to go into the publishing business bycombining her/his own articles with other materials obtained from legalinformation distributors. The legal information distributors have chosena rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 to be their distributor ofcontrol set information for their many properties. With each object theyregister at the rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 they alsoregister two control sets in the formats described in the Ginter et al.disclosure:

-   -   one control set specifies default controls including prices for        retail customer, and    -   a second control set conveys rights and prices seldom of        interest to the retail customer, for example, the anthologizing        right.

The attorney newsletter publisher obtains a chapter from a treatise onpatent law and wants to include a 1000 word excerpt in the newsletter inaddition to other articles. Having already obtained the treatise chapterand its retail control set, the newsletter publisher sends an inquiry ina VDE secure container using Internet MIME-compliant e-mail to therights and permissions clearinghouse 400 asking for the excerpting rightand the anthologizing right for the chapter identified by the encloseduniform object identifier. The lawyer found the rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 using a secure directory service 600 (alternativelythe rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 address may be contained inthe original retail version received by the lawyer).

The rights clearinghouse 400 checks the object database, locates thecontrol set information for the object named in the universal objectidentifier, and determines that both the excerpting and anthologizingrights are available along with the prices for each The excerpting rightdoes not convey the right to modify the excerpted portion. Theanthologizing right is conveyed along with controls that set the priceto a 30% discount from retail prorated for the length of an excerpt ifthe whole chapter is not anthologized.

Using a VDE aware page composition application, the newsletter publishercombines several works, including the 1000 word excerpt into a new work,and registers the new object with the rights and permissionsclearinghouse together with its control set(s). The newsletter publisheralso registers the new object with a copyright registration function,for example, the US Patent and Copyright Office. The newsletterpublisher distributes the new work in a VDE secure container, which alsocontains control sets for each of the separate anthologized works, andfor the whole, complete newsletter as well. The local VDE protectedprocessing environment on the appliance of the user keeps track of usageaccording to the controls that apply to the composite object and to thecontrols of each of its parts for which there are separate rules. Atsome time, the VDE instance sends audit records to the usageclearinghouse 300 and to the financial clearinghouse 200.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Support Electronic RightsNegotiations

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can support electronic rightsnegotiations. In one example, suppose a professor is creating a “coursepack”: a compilation of many different works to be used by students in aparticular course that in this example, lasts only one semester. In thisexample, the professor sends a VDE secure container with a query to theappropriate rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 and gets backcontrol sets for the digital properties listed in the query. Uponreviewing the permissions and prices, the professor notes that a chapterfrom a book carries a price large enough to make the overall price ofthe course pack higher than the maximum s/he desires.

Using the negotiation mechanisms disclosed in Ginter et al. (see, forexample, FIGS. 75A-76B), the professor attempts a negotiation with therights and permission clearinghouse 400. The rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400, in turn, automatically determines it lacks theauthority to negotiate and redirects the negotiation to the publisher.

Having obtained an appropriate certificate 504 from a certificateauthority 500 by providing credentials indicating membership in theclass “higher education”, the protected processing environment of thepublisher's Web server makes an offer of a new, modified control set forthe property targeted for this professor. The controls have a discountedprice, require that the copies be printed on a VDE enabled authorizedprinter that will keep track of the number of copies printed, and reportback to the various parties to the transaction using VDE techniques.Still unhappy with the price, the professor sends a VDE negotiationcounter-offer in a secure container to the publisher. The publisher'sVDE instance negotiates with the professor's negotiation counter-offercontrol set and an agreement is reached that and provides a new controlset with the new, agreed-upon prices and terms and conditions to theprofessor, who then goes ahead to produce the course pack. The rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400 is willing to grant the reduced pricein part because the professor in this example is able to provide adigital certificate attesting to the fact that she has a full-timeappointment at the University of California, Los Angeles and has acertain, minimum number of students who will employ the materials. Thisauthentication meets requirements stated by the publisher to the rightsand permissions clearinghouse 400.

Example

Certification of Executables

One valuable use of certifying authorities 500 is for the issuance ofdigital certificates on behalf of the government. In addition to issuingcertificates attesting to identity, legal status, etc., governmentcertifying authorities 500 might issue certificates certifyingexecutables, for example load modules. For example, governmentcertifying authorities 500 at all levels might certify the set ofexecutables that represents the laws and trade practices of theiradministrative districts. For example, Saudi Arabia might insist thatall appliances in their administrative control have load modulescertified by the government that examine attributes of containers toinsure that only appropriate content is released. The State ofCalifornia might certify a load module that calculates state tax, etc.

Example

Entertainment Distribution

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can be used to efficiently and flexiblysupport models for film distribution to the consumer market. Forexample, suppose that a film and entertainment company such as Disneywants to provide electronic Distributed Commerce Utility 75 to supportdistribution of its films to consumers 95. Disney could open a CommerceUtility System 90 itself, or it might contract with a neutral thirdparty to provide Commerce Utility Systems 90 on its behalf. The purposeof the Commerce Utility Systems 90 in this example is to support securepay-per-view/pay-per-use, rental, lease and other film distributiontransactions to consumers.

The films themselves could be distributed in digitized linear form—forexample, on Digital Versatile Disk (DVDs) or other high capacity media.Such media would store, in addition to the films themselves, one or moresecure containers including control sets for controlling use of thefilms. Consumers 95 could play the films using a media player 104 (seeFIG. 1) having a network 150 connection or other “back channel” (e.g.,the ability to read from and write to a smart card or the like).

Media player 104 has a protected processing environment 154 such as asecure processing unit for use in managing rights and manipulating theelectronic containers. The storage media might also be played by apersonal computer 124 equipped with a protected processing environmentand a network connection.

Set top box 104 may be controlled by electronic controls distributed onthe media and/or via the back channel. The controls require the set topbox 104 to record customer usage and payment information for eachproperty the consumer decides to view. For example, a consumer 95 mightplace a media such as an optical DVD disk into media player 104 and hitthe “play” button. The consumer's media player 104 might next display(e.g., on television set 102) a message telling the consumer how much itwill cost to view that particular film (e.g., $2.95), and ask theconsumer if she wants to proceed. If the consumer answers “yes”, mediaplayer 104 will play the film on the consumer's television set102—recording usage and payment information for reporting to CommerceUtility Systems 90. The protected processing environment 154 withinmedia player 104 may, under secure control of one or more associatedelectronic control sets delivered to it—monitor and collect informationthat can ultimately be used to ensure the consumer pays for watching thefilm and to provide a secure usage audit. The secure usage audit may beused, for example, to allow Disney, the film's actors and director, andothers involved in making the film to securely verify how many consumerswatched the film (and also potentially to provide demographicinformation for targeting advertising or the like). For example, themedia player 104's protected processing environment may securely collectand record, for example, the following information within meter, billingand/or budget audit trails associated with particular controls:

-   -   name of film    -   digital identifier of film    -   time and date property played    -   number of times property played    -   who played the property.

In one example, consumers 95 would have to possess a digital certificate122 issued by an appropriate certifying authority that attests tocertain facts. Such a digital certificate 122 can be used to provide acontext for the electronic control set(s) delivered to media player 104.Such a certificate might need to be present before the consumer would bepermitted to play the film and/or to prevent the film from playing undercertain conditions and/or to effect the controls that apply when thefilm is played.

For example, the parents could obtain a digital certificate 122indicating that the household has children. This “child present” digitalcertificate 122 could be used to prevent media player 104 from playingany films other than those that have “G”, “PG” ratings. Suchcertificates 122 could be issued by the same organization that providesthe other administrative and support services in connection with thisexample if desired.

The electronic controls provided with a particular film on a media suchas an optical disk may also specify a particular value chaindisaggregation to be applied in connection with payment arrangements.For example, the media player 104 would “know” from the electronic rulesand controls delivered to it that the film distributor, studio and theDistributed Commerce Utility 75 are to receive particular percentages ofthe $2.95 usage fee, and that a state government authority must receivea certain tax payment in the form of a sales tax or VAT. Because thisinformation is maintained within the protected processing environment154 within media player 104, the consumers 95 may never be exposed tothe payment disaggregation scheme and/or its details. (Typically,consumers do not care what the distributor “cut” is as opposed to thestudio revenue. The protected processing environment within media player104 may provide this payment disaggregation locally or through adistributed or centralized financial clearing function 200 as describedabove.)

Media player 104 can report the usage containment information it hascollected on a real time (online) and/or periodic event-driven basis. Inone example, media player may report at the end of each month theinformation it has collected over the preceding month. It may reportcollected payment information (including disaggregation data provided bythe control set) to a financial clearinghouse 200 run by Disney (or, forexample, such information may be reported directly to clearinghouse200). Financial clearinghouse 200 ensures that the consumer's account isappropriately debited and that the various payees (e.g., Disney, thefilm's distributor, and others in the value chain) receive appropriate“splits” of the consumer's payment. The financial clearinghouse 200 mayalso provide consumer credit checks and authorizations, helping toensure that the consumer doesn't run up a big bill she can't pay.

Media player 104 may report the usage information it has collected to ausage clearinghouse 300 operated by an independent auditor (the film'sproducer and actors may insist that an independent third partyauditor—not Disney—performs this function) or, for example, may reportsuch information to Disney and/or clearinghouse 200—certain of suchinformation may be concealed from Disney if required by rules andcontrols to ensure other value chain party rights and Disney may not beable to identify, alter, and/or remove such information due, forexample, to VDE protection mechanisms. The usage clearinghouse 300 mayanalyze the usage data and issue reports indicating total number ofviews, market share, etc. Usage clearinghouse 300 may also furtheranalyze the information to provide demographic and/or other marketingresearch information. This type of information can be very useful toadvertisers and marketers.

Disney may also operate a rights and permissions clearinghouse 400. Eventhough permissions are distributed on the optical media in this example,the rights and permissions clearinghouse can provide supplementalcontrol sets for various reasons. For example, the control setsdistributed on the media may expire on a certain date. Rights andpermissions clearinghouse 400 may issue new control sets in lieu of theexpired ones. Rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 may also issuepermissions to provide “sales” and/or to otherwise change prices (e.g.,to reduce the price of an older film). Rights and permissionsclearinghouse 400 can also issue special permissions (e.g., anextracting or anthologizing right that multi-media developers oradvertisers might be able to request, and/or, for example,redistribution rights to certain frames such as an approved image ofMickey Mouse for printing purposes). Disney could “pre-approve” some ofthese special permissions so that the rights and permissionsclearinghouse could automatically provide them on demand. Digitalcertificates 122 might be used to interact with the permissions—therebyassuring that the user receiving the control set is entitled to takeadvantage of it.

Example

Distributed Commerce Utility 75 can Support the Collection, Analysis,and Repurposing of Usage Information

Prior to the inventions disclosed in the Ginter et al. specification,the electronic community lacked general purpose, reusable, distributed,peer-to-peer technologies that could, among other things, efficientlyand effectively monitor and measure usage on the local computer orprotected processing environment. Collecting, analyzing, and reportingusage data provides significant value to rightsholders and to otherdistribution chain participants, to infrastructure Distributed CommerceUtility 75, to customers, and to other interested parties. Understandingwhat has happened can often be a fundamental determinant or contributorto what might or should happen. In addition, usage information can berepurposed to support a wide range of other commercial activities,including advertising and merchandising models.

Suppose one or more customers in each of several companies haveinformation appliances 100, in this one example such as personalcomputers, with VDE protected processing environments (PPEs) 154 asdescribed in Ginter et al. Suppose further that over some time period,perhaps a month in this example, that VDE has been keeping track ofdetailed usage information and storing this information in the encrypteddatabase on each hard drive on each computer that is a logical extensionand under the control of each consumer PPE. These consumers have eachbeen purchasing different combinations of information and entertainmentfrom generally different sources. Each instance of VDE keeps track ofusage information according to the controls associated with the contentand/or service being purchased or otherwise used.

On or shortly after the first of each month, and/or any other required(or, if supported, allowed) reporting intervals, each instance of VDEcommunicates the usage records to the usage clearinghouse 300 accordingto the controls associated with each of the digital properties they haveused during the previous month. In turn, the usage clearinghouse 300provides reports to each of the rightsholders regarding any use of aproperty during the previous month or other reporting interval (e.g.,daily, weekly, quarterly, annually, etc.).

In one example these reports contain information identifying both theindividual customer and the company that employees them. In anotherexample, the reports contain detailed usage information, but theidentities of the individual customers has been removed by the usageclearinghouse 300. Alternatively, both the individual and corporateidentities may be removed. Instead, the usage information may beaggregated by any one or more certain classes, such as by industry,geography, and/or by country, and/or any other useful classes.

In another useful example, a particular company or individual customermay have not permitted VDE (subject, of course, to this right beingavailable through in place rules and controls) to communicate identityinformation to the usage clearinghouse 300 from their informationappliances in the first place. The user may have established VDEcontrols prohibiting disclosure of such identifying information. Inanother example, the user may have used the negotiation mechanismsdisclosed in the Ginter et al. application to negotiate additionallevels of privacy and confidentiality other than those required in thevarious control sets associated with the information being purchased orotherwise used by each customer, that is, the electronic negotiationprocess generates a modified or new rules and controls set reflectingthe additional levels of privacy and confidentiality. In yet anotherexample, a rightsholder, rights and permissions clearinghouse 400 orusage clearinghouse 300 or other party, may have used the samenegotiation mechanisms to negotiate, through the use of VDE rules andcontrols sets alternative levels of privacy and confidentiality.

As illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 33-39, the usage clearinghouse functionsthat may remove identifying information, aggregate data, analyze data,generate reports, and/or transmit those reports to rightsholders andother interested parties may exist in one or more logical and physicallocations. For example, a distributed usage clearinghouse 300 executingon the local computer (or other information appliance) may perform anyor all of these usage clearinghouse functions. One or more usageclearinghouses may exist within a given company or within a givencollection of companies comprising a vertical industry, healthcare, forexample, trading group, or family of companies (“keiretsu”). Similarlythese usage clearinghouse functions may be performed by usageclearinghouses within each country or other jurisdiction or defined byany other class and/or geographic variable.

Usage clearinghouse 300 may also provide raw data, aggregated data,and/or customized reports to rightsholders, distribution chainparticipants, and/or other interested parties. These parties include:for example, content creators, publishers, repackagers, repurposers,advertising agencies and their clients, trade associations, marketresearch and consulting companies, circulation audit and audiencemeasurement bureaus, the sales, marketing, and advertising functions ofcompanies with an interest in one or more markets, and governmentagencies.

In another example the usage clearinghouse 300 may also sell informationto advertisers indicating exposure to particular ads and/or classes ofads by individuals, customers within a company and/or group ofcompanies, markets, and/or other analysis groupings and categories.

Example

Secure Directory Services Protect Confidentiality and Privacy

Personal and business confidentiality and privacy are often essentialaspects of the modern experience. Individuals may not want others toknow with whom they are associating. In many aspects of business, firmsmay not wish to reveal their interest in communicating or interacting orconducting business with other parties. In today's Internet, forexample, it is possible for those with certain kinds of access todetermine the nature of queries between a given person and a directoryservice. Such information may provide important clues regarding existingor pending business arrangements that have not yet been publiclyannounced, a merger or acquisition, for instance.

VDE secure containers provide one basis for secure directory services600 in which confidentiality and privacy are preserved. In one example,the Corporation Counsel in a Fortune 100 company wishes to obtain theemail address of the investment banker in the firm handling a proposedacquisition—but without revealing her interest to anyone else. Theattorney sends a query in a VDE secure container to the secure directoryservice 600 with the name and company of the person she wishes tocontact. The secure directory service then sends the response in anotherVDE secure container back to the attorney. Both the query and theresponse can make use of certificates issued by the certifying authority500 authenticating both the attorney and the secure directory service600. Payment for the query can be handled by the financial clearinghouse200 who deposits payment in the provider account of the secure directoryservice 600 while debiting the account of the company that employs theattorney.

Because these transactions are conducted using VDE and VDE securecontainers, those observing the communications learn no more than thefact that these parties are communicating. Security analysts havedeveloped techniques for “traffic analysis”, in which the frequency ofcommunications among two or more parties is observed and changes in thefrequency of communications are correlated with other information tomake-inferences regarding the content and/or purpose of thesecommunications.

Using VDE and VDE secure containers, it is possible to defeat trafficanalysis, however at some added expense. In this one example, thecompany could send a VDE container to the secure directory service 600with an empty or “null” query that would generate in the average amountof elapsed time a return message in a VDE container with a nullresponse. The instance of VDE on the attorney's computer would generatea payment transaction destined for the financial clearinghouse, butwould aggregate these payment records with others to eliminatecorrelations between the pattern of queries and payments. Whileinefficient from a commerce standpoint, this method of using VDE and VDEsecure containers to defeat traffic analysis attacks can in principle beused among plural parties wishing to hide the pattern of communicationsamong them while taking advantages of the secure, trusted, efficientdistributed transaction capabilities disclosed in the Ginter et al.application.

Example

Cooperation Among Clearinghouses Internal and External to anOrganization

The various Commerce Utility Systems 90 may be distributed to varyingdegrees and in varying combinations as illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2E and3A-3C). In one example shown in FIG. 65, an American Fortune 100 company1070 with operations in several countries (e.g., the United States,Japan and Europe) and within many of those, in multiple locations withineach country, has found it desirable to internationally distribute VDEDistributed Commerce Utility 75. To increase the efficiency ofpurchasing external information, and to maximize its leverage withinformation providers, the company 1070 has chosen to negotiate withseveral providers, agreements that treat all purchases as having beenmade from within the US and being in US dollar currency. In thisexample, the company 1070 maintains its own global Intranet 1072.Intranet 1072 connects company headquarters 1074HQ (shown here as beinglocated within the United States) with company US employee electronicappliances 1074US(1), . . . , 1074US(N), company Japanese employeeelectronic appliances 1074JP(1), . . . , 1074JP(N), and company Europeanemployee electronic appliances 1074EU(1), . . . , 1074EU(N). Intranet1072 also permits each of these employees 1074 to communicate with oneanother. VDE-based transactions between the company 1070 and itsinformation suppliers are also routed through one or another of thecompany's US gateways to the Internet.

To provide efficient administrative and support services, the company1070 has deployed in each country at least one distributed financialclearinghouse 200 and at least one distributed usage clearinghouse 300.For example, company 1070 may operate a financial clearinghouse 200A anda usage clearinghouse 300A in the United States, a financialclearinghouse 200B and a usage clearinghouse 300B in Japan, and afinancial clearinghouse 200C and usage clearinghouse 300C in westernEurope. In countries with multiple sites and within the United States,several of these distributed clearinghouses may exist. In addition tonegotiating agreements with information providers, the company 1070 mayalso have negotiated agreements with a large commercial usageclearinghouse 300 and with a major financial clearinghouse 200. Thesecentralized clearinghouses could be located anywhere, and maycommunicate with company 1070 via the Internet and the corporateIntranet 1072. Neither of these clearinghouses 200, 300 are affiliatedwith the company 1070 other than through this business arrangement. Eachof the distributed clearinghouses within the company 1070 operates underthe simultaneous authority of both the company and the externalclearinghouses with which the company has a business arrangement.

In this one example, a product marketing manager 1074JP(1) employed bythis company 1070 in Japan acquires a market research report 166 from anAmerican distributor 1076. The report and associated controls are sentfrom the American distributor 1076 to this employee 1074JP(1) in a VDEsecure container 152 a. The instance of VDE on the manager's appliance1074JP(1) keeps track of usage and the payment due the informationprovider. Periodically, these audit records 302(1), 302(2) aretransmitted in VDE secure containers 1052 b, 1052 c to distributed usageclearinghouse (private usage clearinghouse) 300B and to the internalfinancial clearinghouse 200B—both of which are located in Japan on thecompany's internal, private corporate network (or Intranet) 1072. Fromtime to time and in accordance with VDE controls associated with thecontent purchased, the private usage clearinghouse 300B removes, in thisexample, individual identifying information in accordance with VDE rulesand controls managing protected processing environment processes andsends in a VDE secure container the audit records 302(3) to theexternal, commercial usage clearinghouse 300. All of the company'sinternal, distributed usage clearinghouses 300A, 300B, 300C sendperiodic communications in VDE secure containers 152 to the commercialusage clearinghouse 300. In turn, the master usage clearinghouse 300creates and sells, licenses, and/or otherwise distributes reports torightsholders and other parties (e.g., third parties having a commercialinterest in obtaining the information) in which the identities ofindividuals are removed, and which in many circumstances company names,in accordance with VDE rules and control, have also been removed.

From time to time and in accordance with VDE controls 188 a associatedwith the content 166 purchased, copies of the complete usage records(with employee identification information) are also sent to thecompany's master usage clearinghouse 300HQ (which may be located atcorporate headquarters), as are audit records from all the company'sdistributed usage clearinghouses 300A, 300B, 300C. These are thenaggregated and combined for further analysis, reporting, and auditing.

The internal, distributed financial clearinghouses 200A, 200B, 200C alsoreceive audit records 302 in VDE secure containers 152 in accordancewith VDE controls sets for the purchased information from each of theVDE protected processing environments 1074 reporting to them. Eachinternal financial clearinghouse 200A, 200B, 200C aggregates thepayments and from time to time sends a VDE secure container 152 withaudit records 302 indicating the aggregate sums to be transferred to theinformation providers as a result of transactions. The company may alsoprovide update information regarding the accounts from which thecompany's funds are to be transferred and/or the provider accounts thatare to receive such funds. In turn, the external master financialclearinghouse 200 completes these payment transactions and sends auditrecords back to the company 1070 and to the information providersconfirming the payment transactions. In the preferred embodiment, theseactivities occur securely under the control of distributed VDE nodes,and are automated at least in part through the use of VDE containers andchain of handling and control managing multi-nodal, multi-party,sequence of processes. As an alternative example, the calculation forthe amount of payment and the completion of the payment transactions isperformed at the external master financial clearinghouse 200 from usageinformation received from the usage clearinghouse 300 (of course, ifusage clearinghouse 300 and financial clearinghouse 200 are the sameparty, the financial clearinghouse already has received suchinformation). The external and internal financial might then, in thisexample, compare payment information.

This example does not depend on the extent to which administrative andsupport services are distributed. In a related example, the usage andfinancial clearinghouse functions could have been distributed to eachVDE-aware protected processing environment 1074 as illustrated in FIGS.2A-2E and 3A-3C. In this example, each protected processing environment1074 could report directly to the master external clearinghouses 200,300, to distributed external clearinghouses, and/or to internalclearinghouse functions organized differently than described just above,for example, by continent (North America, South and Central America,Australia, Europe, etc.) rather than by country and company 1070location.

In one further example, the corporate headquarters 1074HQ and itsassociated headquarters-based clearinghouses 200HQ, 300HQ provide acentralized clearinghouse system through which all usage and financialinformation must flow. In this particular, more centralized example, alluser appliances 1074 report their usage and financial transactions toheadquarters-based clearinghouses 200HQ, 300HQ in secure containers 152over Intranet 1072. Company headquarters financial clearinghouse 200HQmay interface directly into VDE compliant general purpose paymentsystems that directly support the use of VDE chain of handling andcontrol for ensuring the enforcement of automated, secure, financialtransaction fulfillment in accordance with rules and controls governingpayment related variables such as payment amounts, parties, locations,timing and/or other conditions. These headquarters-based clearinghouses200HQ, 300HQ, (which may function as a single, integrated CommerceUtility System) in turn, may communicate appropriate aggregated and/orother audit trail and/or payment information to the individualclearinghouses 200A, 200B, 200C, 300A, 300B, 300C within each country.While less efficient than the less hierarchical example described above,this arrangement may appeal to large corporations who wish to exertcentralized control over usage and financial information by acting asthe central administrator for the provision of credit and/or electroniccurrency to distributed internal financial clearinghouses and byefficiently managing in-house collection of transaction relatedinformation.

Example

Transaction Authorities can be Used within and Between Organizations

FIG. 66 shows an example use of transaction authority 700 for inter andintra organizational communications. FIG. 66 shows an organization A(left-hand side of the drawing) as having an “Intranet” (a private datanetwork within a particular organization) 5100(A). Intranet 5100(A) maybe a local and/or wide area network for example. User electronicappliances 100(A)(1), . . . , 100(A)(N) (for example, employees oforganization A) may communicate with one another over Intranet 5100(A).

FIG. 66 also shows another organization B that may have its own Intranet5100(B), user electronic appliances 100(B)(1), . . . , 100(B)(N), andprivate transaction authority 700(B). In addition, FIG. 66 shows apublic data network 5104 (such as the Internet for example) and a publictransaction authority 700(C). FIG. 66 shows that in this example,organizations A and B communicate with the outside world through trustedtransaction authority 700(A), 700(B) (which may, if desired, alsoinclude “gateways”, “firewalls” and other associated securecommunications components). In other examples, trusted transactionauthority 700(A), 700(B) need not be the actual “gateway” and “firewall”to/from Internet 5104, but could instead operate wholly internally tothe respective organizations A, B while potentially generatingelectronic containers 302 for transmission over Internet 5104.

In this example, organization A user protected processing environments100(A)(1), . . . , 100(A)(N) each have an instance of a virtualdistribution environment protected processing environment, and cancommunicate with one another over Intranet 5100(A) via secure electroniccontainers 302. Similarly, organization A user electronic appliances100(B)(1), . . . , 100(B)(N) each have an instance of a virtualdistribution environment protected processing environment, and cancommunicate with one another over Intranet 5100(B) via secure electroniccontainers 302. In addition, organization A and organization B cancommunicate with one another over Internet 5104 via secure electroniccontainers 302.

Organization A's private trusted transaction authority 700(A) may beused for facilitating organization A's internal communications andprocesses. Private trusted transaction authority 700(A) might be used,for example, to carefully track items sent from one user to anotherwithin organization A. The public transaction authority 700(C),meanwhile, can be used to coordinate between organization A andorganization B without, for example, revealing confidential informationof either organization to the other organization. Below are moredetailed examples of how the FIG. 66 arrangement might be advantageouslyused to conduct business transactions.

Suppose a confidential memo needs to be approved by users 100(A)(1),100(A)(3) and 100(A)(5) (who can each revise the memo) before beingdistributed to each of users 100(A)(2), 100(A)(7)-100(A)(10) and100(A)(12) (none of whom can change the memo), with copies to users100(A)(1), 100(A)(3) and 100(A)(5) (who also can't change the memo afterall three of them have signed off on it) and to no one else. Privatetransaction authority 700(A) can maintain a rule set that specifiesthese requirements. Transaction authority 700(A) can:

-   -   send the memo (in secure containers) in “round robin” fashion to        each of users 100(A)(1), 100(A)(3) and 100(A)(5) for approval.    -   If any one of these users changes the memo, then transaction        authority 700(A) can circulate the revised memo to the other two        for additional comments and revisions.    -   Once all three of users 100(A)(1), 100(A)(3) and 100(A)(5)        approve the memo, transaction authority 700(A) may be empowered        to place each of their digital and/or handwritten signatures or        initials on the memo, place it into one or more secure        containers with a control set specifying it is read only and can        only be read by users 100(A)(1)-100(A)(3), 100(A)(5),        100(A)(7)-100(A)(10) and 100(A)(12).    -   Transaction authority 700(A) may then send a copy of the memo in        a container to each of these users, or could require the same        container to circulate from one to another.    -   The transaction authority 700 may require the electronic        controls to maintain a secure audit trail indicating where the        container has been, who has opened it, who has accessed the memo        it contains, and when. Transaction authority 700(A) might thus        increase personal accountability by evidencing whether a        particular person had seen a particular document, when, and for        how long.

Organization A's Intranet 5104 might also be used to exchange and/ordistribute highly confidential design specifications. Transactionauthority 700(A) can, for example, maintain, in digital form, a detailedrecord of who has “signed off” on the design specifications—thusensuring personal accountability and providing a high degree ofefficiency.

As mentioned above, private transaction authorities 700(A), 700(B) canalso provide a “firewall” function to protect confidential informationfrom escaping to outside of the respective organizations A, B. Supposefor example that organization A is an integrated circuit design houseand organization B is an integrated circuit foundry. Organization Adesigns and specifies the circuit layout of a chip, producing a “tapeout” that it sends to organization B. Organization B manufactures anintegrated circuit based on the “tape out”, and delivers chips toorganization A.

Transaction authority 700 can be used to facilitate the above businesstransaction while protecting confidentiality within each oforganizations A and B. For example:

-   -   organization A's private transaction authority 700(A) can        supervise an overall design and specification development effort        within organization A. All communications take place in secure        containers 302 over organization A's Intranet 5100(A) to        maintain confidentiality. Transaction authority 700(A) can        maintain a secure archive of historical design documents, works        in progress, and specification versions as the design process        progresses.    -   Organization A's private transaction authority 700(A) can manage        the final design specification development—ensuring that all        conditions required to finalize the design specifications are        followed.    -   Once the design specification has been finalized, transaction        authority 700(A) can circulate it within secure containers 152        to those individuals within organization A that need to “sign        off” on it. Their respective appliances 100(A)(1), . . .        100(A)(k) can affix and/or embed digital signatures, handwritten        signatures, seals and/or fingerprints as described above to        indicate specification approval.    -   Upon being satisfied that the specification has been “signed        off” by the appropriate people, transaction authority 700(A) can        send it over Internet 1104 within a secure container 302 to        public transaction authority 700(C). Public transaction        authority 700(C) may be a commercial transaction authority        retained by organizations A and B to act as a liaison between        them. Organization A's private transaction authority 700(A) can        filter (or protect) all information it sends to public        transaction authority 700(C) to ensure that organization B can        access only that information intended for it. For example,        private transaction authority 700(A) might provide additional        electronic controls within the container to prevent organization        B from seeing any detailed audit information showing where the        specification has been within organization A.    -   The public transaction authority 700(C) might act as an        independent trusted third party, notarizing and/or certifying        the design specification to later evidence that organization A        delivered it on a particular date and time in accordance with a        contract.    -   Public transaction authority 700(C) could then forward the        design specification (still within a secure container) over        Internet 5104 to organization B's private transaction authority        700(B).    -   Organization B's private transaction authority 700(B) could        automatically send a copy of the design specification over        organization B's Intranet 5100(B) to the appropriate users        100(B)(1), 100(B),(N) within organization B. No one outside of        organization B would need to know who received a copy of the        specification. On the other hand, organization A's transaction        authority 700(A) could, if desired, include electronic controls        restricting access to only certain engineers within organization        B—and these secure controls would be carried along into        organization B and securely enforced by electronic appliances        100(B)(1), . . . , 100(B)(N).

Organization B's transaction authority 700(B) could manage the chipmanufacturing process, ensuring that all steps and conditions requiredto manufacture chips in accordance with organization A's designspecification are followed.

Example

Transaction Authority can Facilitate International Commerce

FIG. 67 shows an example of how transaction authority 700 can be used toconduct international commerce. In this particular example, atransaction authority 700 coordinates a complex multinationaltransaction between companies 1106A, 1106B and 1106C located in theirown respective countries (e.g., the United States, Australia andEurope). Company 1106A has its own bank 1108A and lawyers 1110A.Similarly, company 1106B has its own bank 1108B and lawyers 1110B, andcompany 1106C has its own bank 1108C and lawyers 1110C.

The transaction authority 700 may assist in forming agreements betweenthe international parties, by for example passing offers andcounteroffers back and forth in secure containers and using the contractforming techniques described above to establish some or all of the termsand provide non-repudiation. Once a contract is formed, transactionauthority 700 may maintain a master set of rules and controls specifyingall the conditions that must be satisfied to complete thetransaction—and may thus provide consequences for different events.Alternatively, once the contract is executed, the transaction authorityrole may be virtual, particularly in simpler models, that is the valuechain rules and controls can be carried by VDE containers whose rulesand controls may, as a whole, specify all processes and conditions thatmust fulfilled, including their sequence of operation. Rules andcontrols provided by a transaction authority 700 may take internationallaw into account—with differing rules applying to different countries.The rules could take into account various import and export requirementsand restrictions, international tax treaties between nations, containupfront and/or ongoing customs related routing and filing requirements,identify reputable currency transaction authorities, assist in filingcontracts or certain contract terms with relevant national andinternational authorities, manage any shipping or other transportationrequirements, assist in establishing conclusive translation services forcontract terms (particularly standard terms and conditions), managedifferences in international certifying authority requirements andformats, impose societal regulations required by applicable governingbodies, and collect applicable governing body taxes, such as taxes forboth national and regional governing entities, etc. Transactionauthority 700 may communicate between the various international partiesusing secure electronic containers, and may securely validate andauthentic various event notifications provided by the internationalparties.

Example

Distributed Transaction Authorities

Complex business interactions under the control of a transactionauthority 700 may also be distributed within and among, for example,organizations and/or jurisdictions. Suppose a complex international realestate transaction requires participation of several functions withinthe purchasing and selling companies, several financial institutions,insurance companies, and law firms, and perhaps government agencies in afew countries. Suppose further that each of the organizational andindividual parties to the transaction has computers that are VDE-aware,and that within each organization or agency there is at least onedistributed transaction authority that performs services for this realestate transaction under an authority granted by a master transactionauthority 700.

In this one example, each of the parties to the real estate transactionhas contributed commerce rules and parameters representing theirbusiness relationships in the form of VDE rules and controls that defineeach parties role in the overall transaction. For instance, theinsurance company must insure the property at a value and cost that thepurchaser finds acceptable and that is also approved by the mortgagelender(s). Also, suppose that these transaction VDE rules and controlshave already been mutually agreed upon using negotiation mechanismsdescribed in the Ginter et al. application, and that the negotiatedrules and controls together with the history of negotiating these rulesand controls have all been stored at the master transaction authorityfor this real estate transaction. The most senior transaction authoritymay be a master transaction authority 700 or might be any mutuallyagreed upon distributed transaction authority. In this one example weassume the former. In short, in short, all parties have agreed to therules and controls that govern the transaction. The negotiation processmay have been simplified because the transaction authority 700 may havedistributed a distributed template application for international realestate sales, the template being based on the transaction authority700's past experience or that were created by the transaction authority700 especially for this transaction as a value added service to itsimportant customers.

Each of the parties to the transaction is, according to the VDE controlsets that define this atomic transaction, responsible for seeing thatcertain pieces of the transaction are completed prior to the closing andconsummation of the overall transaction. In some cases, plural partiesare jointly responsible for completing part of the over all transaction.For example, the buyer and seller must have agreed on a purchase price.In this example, they contribute their business requirements, including,for example, their price and other variables, and they use the VDEnegotiation mechanisms to arrive at an agreement that represents a fairbalance of interests. If the electronic negotiation is unsuccessful, theparties may directly negotiate, or VDE secure containers with auditrecords indicating failure are sent to the transaction authority who, inturn, notifies each of the other parties authorized to participate inthe overall transaction.

If the buying and selling parties do agree, in this one example,notification is sent by the VDE protected processing environment thatcompletes the negotiation (or receives negotiation completioninstructions digitally signed by both parties through the use of VDEtechniques) to a distributed transaction authority, which in turn,notifies other parties, including other participating transactionauthorities, that price has been agreed upon. Based on VDE controls forsubtransactions, VDE may securely notify a party or parties that certainother subtransactions are now to be completed. In this example, thetitle search company may now perform their task; an insurance companymay now begin negotiations with the buyer for coverage using the VDEnegotiation mechanisms. An attorney in the Counsel's office for thepurchaser may begin negotiations with his counterpart in the seller'scompany; both in-house attorneys may interact with their outside counselusing VDE and VDE secure containers in creating and negotiating thevarious documents whose execution completes parts or the overalltransaction.

In this example, each of the parties may have one or more digitalcertificates issued by the certifying authority 500 to authenticate eachof the parties to this transaction and its subtransactions. Thefinancial clearinghouse 200 provides a payment vehicle for various valueadded services, in one example, those provided by the transactionauthority 700. The usage clearinghouse 300 collects audit records sentfrom time to time in VDE secure containers from each of theparticipating VDE protected processing environments and provides anindependent third party audit of these transactions. The securedirectory services 600 helps participants locate each other's electronicaddresses while maintaining confidentiality and privacy.

As each of the subtransactions is completed, a distributed transactionauthority within the organization within which the subtransaction iscompleted notifies the master authority for this transaction 700 ofcompletion of that subtask. According to the previously agreed upon VDErules and controls sets, some or all of the persons participating in thetransaction may also be notified by audit records and/or messages thatare securely sent from, and authenticated by, at least one participatingVDE protected processing environment, including, for example, PPEs atnodes for individuals, distributed Commerce Utility Systems, adistributed transaction authority, and/or the master authority for thistransaction.

When all the component elements of the overall transaction havecompleted, a transaction authority, in this example, the mastertransaction authority for this real estate sale, notifies each of theparticipants and each of the participating distributed transactionauthorities, that the preconditions have all been met and settles theoverall transaction. Optionally, the transaction authority may giveseller and purchase a last opportunity to proceed to completion or tohold up the transaction.

This one example shows that Commerce Utility Systems 90, includingtransaction authority 700, may be distributed to intermediate VDEprotected processing environments that support one or more CommerceUtility Systems 90.

Example

Digital Broadcasting Network

Amortizing infrastructure and other resources across many users,building critical mass more rapidly than competitors, supportingspecialization to tailor and deliver the most appealing products andservices to customers, maximizing negotiating leverage power forpurchasing, and building the most comprehensive infrastructure to serveas the best “one-stop” resource for a given business activity—these areall central concepts in building successful, modern businesses. VDE andDistributed Commerce Utility provide a foundation for creating highlycompetitive and successful cyberspace businesses that demonstrate theseattributes. Many of these businesses will reflect the character of theInternet and the World Wide Web. Like VDE and Distributed CommerceUtility, they will comprise a distributed community that realizesmaximum advantage by supporting electronic commerce partnerships. Theywill provide different layers of services and complementary products andservices, and will realize great advantage in coordinating theiractivities to their mutual benefit.

The Digital Broadcasting Network (“DBN”) will be just such an innovativecommercial enterprise. Comprised of many different World Wide Web(“WEB”) based sites and services, DBN participants will gain greaterleverage and operating efficiency by sharing resources, experiencingmaximum buying power, generating marketing and customer information, andsupporting a rational administrative overlay that ties together theirmany, frequently complementary, activities. Much like the consistentrules that enable and underlie both the World Wide Web and the design ofVDE and Distributed Commerce Utility, and layered upon the capabilitiesof both these architectures, the Digital Broadcasting Network employstheir inventions to support a highly efficient, largely automated anddistributed community that maximizes business efficiencies. In a similarmanner, other examples would include other groupings of entities thatfunction together as Virtual Enterprises (e.g. corporations or otherorganizations). The distributed nature of VDE and the Commerce UtilitySystems are particularly important in providing an effectiveinfrastructure for these modern, potentially large scale, cyberspacebusiness activities.

The Digital Broadcasting Network may function as a cooperative of WEBsites and, for example, service providers, with a central and perhapsregional and logical (e.g. market based) headquarters groups, or it mayfunction as a for profit, shareholder corporation in a business modelreminiscent of television broadcast companies (e.g., NBC), or it mayfunction as a cooperative or virtual corporation that has some mix orcombination of mixes of the above attributes and employ distributed peerto peer, hierarchical, and centralized administrative businessrelationships and activities. In one example, a plurality ofcorporations may join together to provide the advantages of size andcoordination with individual participants providing some degree ofspecialty expertise and the body of entities coordinating together insome fashion in a “higher” level cooperative or corporation.

In one example, the Digital Broadcasting Network may be a singlecorporation that has many licensed franchisees. The licensed franchiseesmay comprise WEB sites that serve geographically and/or logicallyspecialized market areas and/or serve other WEB sites in a hierarchyand/or peer-to-peer context of Distributed Commerce Utility services asdescribed above. On behalf of itself and its franchisees, thiscorporation may, for example:

-   -   negotiate optimal rates for exposure time with advertisers and        their agents,    -   obtain the lowest costs for content provided by third parties,    -   resell market analysis and user profiling information,    -   share its revenue with its franchisees which themselves may        share revenue with DBN and/or other franchisees,    -   provide advertising to franchisees in response to franchisee        and/or franchisee user base profiles,    -   guarantee a certain number of “eyes” (exposures and/or other        interactions) with respect to advertiser materials,    -   provide a secure virtual network employing VDE and Distributed        Commerce Utility capabilities so that the overall organization        can operate in a secure and highly efficient manner, including        using common user application tools, interfaces, and        administration operations,    -   do advertising for the network to the benefit of the network and        the franchisees,    -   purchase and/or otherwise supply content to franchisees in        response to franchisee needs as demonstrated by their requests        and/or usage profiles,    -   collect and analyze content (including advertising) usage,        cyberspace purchasing, and other data as allowed under its        agreement with franchisees,    -   allow franchisees to perform many of the network functions on a        local basis—that is acquire and make available geographically        and/or logically local (consistent with there focus) content        (and/or other content of particular interest to its user base),    -   negotiate agreements regarding advertising materials that are of        commercial value given the franchisees physical and/or logical        market focus,    -   control at least a portion of its WEB “broadcasting” space—that        is exercise local control over at least some portion of the        content—with the remainder of the control, by agreement, and,        for example, enforced by rules and controls, being under the        control of DBN and/or some one or more other network        participants, and    -   perform other administrative, support and/or service functions        on behalf and/or for the network.

In one example, DBN may employ many of the security and administrativecapabilities of VDE and many of the service functions provided by thepresent inventions to manage and automate the distributed relationshipsand activities that are central to the DBN business model. For example:

-   -   Transaction Authority 700 can provide the overall administrative        context for managing the network community. For example, the        transaction authority 700 may manage (through the use of VDE        rules and controls in the preferred embodiment) the routing of        content to appropriate franchisees. It may also manage the        chains of handling and control related to reporting usage        information. The transaction authority 700 may obtain and/or        derive its electronic control sets from the agreement        relationships between DBN and its franchisees. Electronic        negotiations may be used to create these agreement        relationships. The transaction authority 700 may also receive        controls reflecting bilateral or other networked relationships        directly among franchisees and other participants.    -   Rights and Permissions Clearinghouse 400 can extend commercial        rights related to content to network franchisees. It acts as a        repository of rights related to content that is supplied by        network entities to customers—including content rights held by        network entities themselves, and made available to other network        entities. Such content rights may include, for example,        displaying, vending, redistributing, repurposing, and for        advertising. It can provide additional rights (e.g.,        redistribution rights or specialized repurposing rights) upon        request and/or automated profiling based, for example, upon        usage.    -   Usage Clearinghouse 300 can collect usage data in support of        market analysis, user profiling, and advertising. It may also        analyze that information and derive reports. It may distribute        those reports internally to the DBN as appropriate, and sell        reports and/or other usage based information externally based        upon commercial opportunity.    -   Financial Clearinghouse 200 can ensure proper compensation        fulfillment throughout the network. It may collect payments due        to DBN from franchisees for content. It may distribute to        franchisees payments due them as a result of advertising and        reselling of usage information. It can collect payments from        franchisees for support of generally DBN infrastructure and        services such as, for example, network advertising. It connects        to general purpose financial clearinghouse infrastructure to        transmit and receive payment related information.    -   The secure directory services 600 may maintain directory        services based upon unique identity and/or class attribute(s).        There may be a very large number of franchisees globally.        Directory services 600 could also maintain directory information        on customers, including unique identifier and profiling        information. Secure directory services 600 may maintain        directory infrastructure for content owned, managed and/or        available to the network.    -   A certifying authority 500 may certify the roles of all        participants in the network. It would issue a certificate to        each franchisee, for example. It may also issue certificates        certifying commercial relationships of groupings of network        entities to facilitate efficient, secure relationships with        third parties. They may also issue certificates to customers to        represent certain specialized customer rights regarding customer        commercial activities with outside parties (for example,        discounts, or being a member of the greater “DBN” community).

Portions or all of specific service functions (e.g., as described above)may be highly distributed and may operate significantly, primarily oreven exclusively on franchise and service network web servers.

While the inventions have been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment,it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, are intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing access to an onlineservice, the method comprising: receiving, at a first electronicappliance, a first digital certificate from a second electronicappliance associated with a user, the first digital certificateattesting to at least one attribute of the user; determining, by thefirst electronic appliance, based at least in part on the first digitalcertificate, whether the user is authorized to access the onlineservice; issuing, by the first electronic appliance, based on thedetermination of whether the user is authorized to access the onlineservice, a second digital certificate to the user, the second digitalcertificate attesting to the user's permission to access the onlineservice; sending, from the first electronic appliance to the secondappliance, the second digital certificate; and receiving audit recordinformation relating to the user's use of the online service, the auditrecord information comprising an aggregation of usage information thatmasks one or more details of individual service items accessed orutilized in accordance with a level of detail associated with the usageinformation that is deemed acceptable by the user.
 2. A method as inclaim 1, further comprising: receiving, at the second electronicappliance, a request from the user to access the online service;checking, by the second electronic appliance, the second digitalcertificate to determine whether the user has permission to access theonline service; and allowing, by the second electronic appliance, theuser to access the online service based on the determination of whetherthe user has permission to access the online service.
 3. A method as inclaim 2, in which said checking step is performed in a protectedprocessing environment at the second electronic appliance.
 4. A methodas in claim 1, further comprising: sending, from the first electronicappliance to the second electronic appliance, software for using theonline service to the second electronic appliance; and sending, from thefirst electronic appliance to the second electronic appliance, a digitalsignature for determining the integrity of the software to the user. 5.A method as in claim 4, in which the digital signature is bound, atleast in part, to the identity of the online service.
 6. A method as inclaim 1, further comprising: sending, from the first electronicappliance to the second electronic appliance, a third digitalcertificate, the third digital certificate attesting to the identity ofthe online service, the third digital certificate being issued by acertifying authority.
 7. A method as in claim 6, in which the firstdigital certificate is issued by the certifying authority.
 8. A methodas in claim 1, in which the first digital certificate includes anindication of the user's age.
 9. A method as in claim 1, in which thefirst digital certificate identifies a party responsible for paying forthe user's access to online services.
 10. A method as in claim 9,further comprising: sending, by the first electronic appliance, arequest for payment to the party responsible for paying for the user'saccess to online services; and receiving, at the first electronicappliance, an indication that payment has been received.
 11. A method asin claim 10, in which the steps of (a) sending a request for payment and(b) receiving an indication that payment has been received are performedprior to performing the step of sending the second digital certificateto the user.
 12. A method as in claim 1, in which the second digitalcertificate attests to the user's permission to access the onlineservice until a specified date.
 13. A method as in claim 1, in which theat least one attribute comprises an indication of the amount ofpurchases the user is allowed to make in a given time period.
 14. Amethod as in claim 1, in which the online service comprises aninteractive online game.
 15. A method as in claim 14, furthercomprising: sending, from the first electronic appliance to the secondelectronic appliance software for playing the online game to the user ina secure container.
 16. A method as in claim 1, in which the seconddigital certificate includes an expiration date of the subscription. 17.A method as in claim 1, further comprising: collecting, by the firstelectronic appliance, payment information from the user.
 18. A method asin claim 17, further comprising: sending, by the first electronicappliance, the payment information to a financial clearinghouse.
 19. Amethod as in claim 1, further comprising: sending, by the firstelectronic appliance, the audit record information to a usageclearinghouse.